Over east

We've been away for a few days.
First we went to Melbourne. We scored an amazing Wotif special and stayed at the fabulous Windsor Hotel.




Some amazing people have been guests here - Katharine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Muhammad Ali, Paul Keating...it's a Melbourne icon. Beautiful paintings, flowers, chandeliers, spacious rooms, grand hallways, friendly staff - a really lovely place to stay.




Melbourne is a lovely city to lose yourself in. It feels very liveable - the pace doesn't seem as frenetic as Sydney, and it seems much less noisy. You get the noise of the trams, but that's a nice sound. I really enjoy strolling by the river - the little bridges crossing the Yarra make for a slightly Parisian feeling. Because the river isn't that wide, there's a stronger link between the banks than you get in central Perth where the Swan is so wide.




I had a very pleasant time in the National Gallery looking at their European paintings, and then wandered through some of the wonderful old arcades and laneways.












We also spent a morning in St Kilda. I've wanted to see the pier ever since I heard the Paul Kelly song. Even on a grey windy morning it looked gorgeous.




We also saw a great exhibition at the ACMI in Federation Square. There was Scarlett O'Hara's green curtain dress, Audrey Hepburn's LBD from Breakfast at Tiffany's, Daniel Craig's tuxedo from Casino Royale and lots, lots more. Even Jeff Bridge's bathrobe from The Big Liebowski. Oh, and Marilyn's blowing-up-over-the-subway-grate dress. Great fun!

Everytime I see Federation Square, I change my mind about it. I think it's a great public space, but never really liked the buildings. This time I thought they were actually really good.









We spent three days in Melbourne, before flying on to Sydney. Here's what I'm looking at as I write this.




We even have a view from our bath, which I plan to enjoy again later.

Sydney is really busy this weekend - there are 30000 Brits (mostly wearing red T-shirts) here for some rugby match. At Circular Quay, we saw them everywhere.




Sydney is spectacular on a bright sunny day. No matter how many times I see the bridge or the Opera House, I always feel compelled to take yet another photo.









Tomorrow, it's back home again. It's been a good break - and I still have a few more days off before I have to go back to work!

A few little changes

Our backyard is looking a little different! This is what was there -




and now it's like this!





It's so great to not have that ugly old shed anymore. It leaked, and I'm sure it was a rat breeding factory! I'm not sure what to do with the cleared area yet. Our little garden studio will go further to the left of the cleared space, hopefully sometime in the not-too-distant future. I think we need to look at it for a few months and contemplate. All we've done so far is plant some transplanted climbing roses (Albertine and Sparrieshoop) near the fence - hopefully they will survive the rather brutal transplanting!

I had also been casting around for ideas for a pot in which to plant a fruit tree in the centre of our veggie garden. I couldn't decide on the shape, material, colour of the pot, and was anticipating having to spend a lot for a large enough pot. Meanwhile, the tree (a low-chill apple tree from the Diggers Club) arrived, so the choice of a pot became quite urgent! Then on a trip with my sister to Bunbury we stopped at the Miami Bakehouse for coffee, and there it was - a 44-gallon drum used as a planter! A little Googling located a local business which sells reconditioned drums. It was delivered the next day - painted, with the top cut off and drainage holes drilled in the bottom. $60 (including delivery) later...et voila!





The early winter garden is going well - I've planted potatoes,broad beans, chard, leeks, kale, spinach and lettuce. Peas are also coming up everywhere in the pea straw mulch. Hopefully the apple tree will do well - I thought a low chill variety would be good for Perth. It's called Tropic Beauty, which is slightly concerning. Perth is hot in summer, but definitely not tropical.

To finish, some gardeny pictures...

Back down to earth

Well we're home again - we got back two weeks ago. I always love coming home from a holiday - I'm full of ideas and plans and inspiration from my time away.
I left the garden to its own devices before our departure. After the very hot summer we've had and not being sure whether it would rain while we were away, I thought it wise not to plant anything much until we got back. Here's the veggie garden as it was when we got back.




Nothing much happening, except an eggplant with a few eggplants on it, some basil and a purple sprouting broccoli (PSB). The PSB is a bit of a bone of contention - I've never had any trouble growing them from seed. The seed packet states that one may expect broccoli within 16 weeks or so. I get huge healthy plants, but no florets. The interweb suggests that PSB needs to overwinter, and that florets appear in spring about a year after planting. Well, I shall wait for spring and see. If it doesn't sprout then, I shall give up. Maybe PSB needs colder winters than we get in Perth.

Our quince tree has finally settled in after being transplanted a few years ago. It had a good crop of fruit this year.




Because I left them on the tree while we were away, the fruit fly got to them a little. Nevertheless, I managed to poach a few, and made quince paste with the rest. I found a slow cooker recipe for quince paste which worked beautifully.

Over the last week or so, I've planted broad beans, lettuce, Galilee spinach, leeks and Tuscan kale from seeds. I've also planted some rainbow chard seedlings. I'm not sure exactly what will go in all the beds yet, but have plans involving potatoes, parsnips, rhubarb and peas. The birdbath in the centre of the veggie garden will be moved, to be replaced by a very large pot containing a low-chill variety apple tree which I have ordered from the Diggers Club.


I have lots of plans brewing for the back yard. Lots of digging and transplanting. For now though I'll just enjoy my day off, listening to the rain pouring down outside and perusing the latest Diggers Club catalogue....

Paris

We're leaving tomorrow after two wonderful weeks in Paris. It's still our favourite place - even though this is the seventh time we've been here together, we still haven't tired of it. We're staying on the Rue de la Huchette on the Left Bank, very near Notre Dame. Very touristy, but very central! This is what we saw from our window most afternoons.




Most of the time we've been enjoying our own private Paris. Our favourite shops and restaurants ( and some new ones which have become favourites!), flea markets, a few exhibitions, some great old movies. We've discovered the Canal Saint-Martin, and even made it to the Bois de Bologne, although admittedly just the outskirts. We also got to enjoy Paris with friends this time, which was lovely.




Spring is just starting to break now in Paris, after a really long winter. There have been two quite warm days while we've been here, and everyone was outside basking in the sunshine.




Paris is so much more than all the cliches in the tour guides but everything I think of to say about this amazing city just sounds cliched, so I will say it with pictures instead!


































Au revoir Paris, we will definitely be back.

Amboise

This wasn't originally on the planned list of places to visit on this holiday. Then we won the Alliance Francaise quiz night last October, and two nights' accomodation in Amboise was one of the prizes - serendipity!
We met our friends at the Gare d'Austerlitz in Paris and took a train to Amboise, a pretty little town in the Loire Valley. Our very charming apartment had a lovely view across the Loire to the Chateau d'Amboise.




One of the chateau's many claims to fame is that it is the burial place of Leonardo da Vinci. He came to Amboise in 1515 at the invitation of King Francis I. He lived and worked in the nearby (smaller) Chateau du Clos Luce until his death in 1519.




I really enjoyed our tour of the Chateau d'Amboise - unlike some of the famous grander chateaux and palaces, it has an almost homey, cosy feel!













The gardens are lovely, with the French love of topiary very much in evidence!




We also visited Clos Luce, which is now a museum devoted to Leonardo da Vinci. There are some fascinating exhibits of models of his many inventions, including some life-size "hands-on" ones in the gardens.

On the walk up to Clos Luce, we saw some amazing houses which have been built right into the limestone cliff face. (Unfortunately I didn't get any photos.)

We only had two days in Amboise - there's obviously a whole lot more to see in this part of France. We had a great time - friendly people, good food & wine, great company and conversation! Now.....Paris!

Berlin

It's more than a week since we left Berlin - we spent three days there. We stayed in a hotel on Axel Springer Strasse - the Berlin Wall ran along part of the street. Here I am with the Buddy Bear outside our hotel - the bears are everywhere in Berlin.




Berlin is not a beautiful city, but it is so exciting to be there. It has some very beautiful buildings, but the overall effect is rather chaotic and disjointed, obviously because it was a divided city.




There is building going on everywhere, including a new U-Bahn line under Unter den Linden. The vision is to ultimately give Berlin more of a sense of unity again.
The city's history is so evident everywhere you look. Here is the Berliner Dom (started in the middle ages and not finished until 1905) with the DDR's Fernsehturm in the background.




We went for a walk around the Alexanderplatz, where the largest demonstration in East Germany's history took place in November 1989, shortly before the wall came down. Nearby is this Honecker-era mural, plus Karl Marx Allee, with its fascinating "worker's palaces" apartment buildings.




Some of the other things we saw in Berlin - the remnant of the Berlin Wall, the Brandenburg Gate, the bust of Nefertiti and (my mother would love this) the statue of Der Alte Fritz (King Frederick II of Prussia) on Unter Den Linden.




On Friedrichstrasse, we went to Berlin's amazing Galeries Lafayette. It's ironic that this plus all the other high-end shops on this street are in what used to be East Germany!



We had some terrific meals, went to a great fleamarket, and really enjoyed just walking around. It was cold, and even snowed one day - people kept apologising for the weather. I can sypathise with their being sick of winter in April, but I really loved it!