Perth, 2012

So much has happened over the last year. Unfortunately my blogging skills have not vastly increased. However, being in Perth, and realizing the potential of great things from this adventure has cause me to be more self reflective. I can't guarentee this blog will vastly improve, but perhapse, it will be update more frequently. In the last year, David has completed an Ironman, moved home from Aspen, Graduated with his associates degree and gotten another job with a county in Denver. Brooke changed jobs (yes, yet again), graduated with her masters and traveled to Ghana, Portugal and is currently living short term in Perth. God is doing great things in our lives, and we are excited to see where it takes us. So, my first 5 days in Perth have proved to be eventful. Gorgeous weather (like 80's in their winter), lovely people and Kings Park. Perth is small in comparison, but has some great potential. There are some nice drives from the city that I shall have to try over the next few months. My first weekend here has been learning to drive around the city on the wrong side of the road. All in all, not that bad. Some roads are harder than others...but if you follow the arrows, you are pretty much good to go. We'll see how this whole trading off and on works as I go home every few weeks and come back. Having my own apartment has been really great and I found the locals farmers market. Yeah, I'm good. The first round of pictures are from Perth. I love it here, and I have always loved Australia. We'll have to wait and see what great things come from this massive country.

Johannesburg, South Africa

Even though a short visit, I finally got to Johannesburg this past week. I didn't see much for safari's, but the city was pretty cool. 30+ hours to get there by plane with one stop over in Dakar (for one hour). They spray this nasty stuff when the door closes to kill bugs (which when they don't warn you taste really nasty).

I visted the "african market" which was basically a low key shopping mall with 60 of the same vendors all selling wood carvings and such. I finally found a cool mask and painting that I ended up bringing home. I mean you can't go traditional shopping and not get anything!

The shopping was great and the sunrise and sunsets were such beautiful colors of orange and yellow. A lot like Australia and Japan when I flew there overnight. The hotel was nice and the people not so bad. Next time Cape Town is our visit.

Dusseldorff and Bonn, Germany 2011

I had never been to Germany, and I got to go (for work!) in May. The first stop, for a day, was Dusseldorff. Small, quant and very quite. I walked along the riverside where an unlimited number of bars and resturants lined the riverside. I can only imagine how fun that is in summer and during the World Cup. Cute churches and artistic work along the streets made this city a great first stop before I headed to Prague.

Thank goodness my family lived in London for 2 years as trains don't scare me one bit! I just need to learn a lot of languages now. Ha!

Prague, May 2011

A last minute trip to Germany sparked the need to go back to Prague for the weekend. Although too short on time, the experience of going back to the cool places we visited 4 years ago was a great motivation. Arriving the day before my collegue, I got to walk around the square and think about all the chaos going on at the time I was last in the square. The same store I bought my wine glasses from last time was still there- and yes, they have even more and prettier glasses this time. =)

Prague- you will always hold a place in my heart.

London and Zurich, 2010

Okay, so this is really late, but I went to London, twice this past year. Once in October and again 2 weeks later in November. The second trip my mom tagged along and did her old routine in London town. We had amazing weather (it didn't rain one day) and London as true to it's traditions, was all ready for Christmas.

We had dinner to celebrate my friend Sylvia's birthday in this cute little Italian place in Wimbleton, went to Maytavale and Oxford Circus. Ate at the Mexican resturant in Covant Gardens and then hit the good old Camden Town for some treasures.

We ended the trip in Zurich, and this time it was freezing cold and they were in full swing for the holidays! However, they were being little Swiss stinkers and refused to light the lights until THE DAY WE HAD TO LEAVE! Such a bummer as the tree in the train square was decorated with Swavarski Crystals. Um...yeah?!

Mulled Wine is NOT good, and the weiner schnitzle we finally had. They serve it with this amazing hot mustard that I think mom wanted to buy in bulk and take home with her. Fresh pretzels and lovely chocolate. All in all.. great times.

Hawaii, 2010

As in true tradition of the Page-Thompsons, we decided this year instead of buying lots and lots of presents for each other, we would take a vacation. So, 2 weeks before Christmas, we packed our bags for 10 glorious days in Hawaii! The trip started off with a bang in Honolulu where we joined 40,000 other runners (60% of which were Japanese...go figure) to run the Honolulu marathon. 6 hours later...we were ready to start our vacation!

Honolulu was for 3 days in Waikiki Beach and from there we headed to Maui to finish our last 7 days in a condo down on Waleleau Bay. Minus the condo with no air (who does that in Hawaii?!) and the friendly geekos we boarded with, we had such fun doing absolutely nothing. We did half the road to Hana (the half where you drive up a mountain and for 20 miles do the chicken fight game with other cars on a one lane highway...next to a cliff), sun tanned on beaches (yes, I even got a tan) and drank lots of Kona coffee! We finished our trip with a journey to Waileia and did the traditional Luau. We fell asleep every night to the sound of the ocean (as we were right next to it in our condo) and our last morning we watched the sun rise while a momma and baby whale jumped in the harbor. Almost too good to be true.

Vienna, 2010

Even though this is about a month late, I hit Vienna on my last half of the trip to Zurich. Although it rained pretty much the whole time I was there, I did see some pretty cool things. I now understand why everyone that goes to Vienna falls in love with it.

Beethovan, Mozart, classical and modern artists. I went to the summer palace and hit some of the great musuems. Klepmt was all over the place and so were the nazi security guards with my purse. Kinda freaked me out leaving it with some lady behind a counter with a ticket stub. But in the end it worked out just fine!

The food wasn't exemplary per se, but the company was much appreciated. My dad's friend lived in Vienna and was nice enough to join me with his wife for lunch and a tour of the city and their home. It was a holiday in Vienna so parades were everywhere and pettit fors were in bulk! They are, by the way, amazing fresh. Some champagne to celebrate the day along with a visit to the summer palace finished off the last day. I was lucky and bought my wine glasses the day before the holiday...as the whole city pretty much shut down. Fun times.

Vienna- I will come back when it's sunny and gorgeous and see you for your real beauty.