blustering on

autumn, if not winter has certainly arrived in oxford. thankfully the ending of daylight savings has rid us of the dark mornings but the dark afternoons have well and truly settled in along with the days of single digit maximum temperatures. it is four o'clock in the afternoon and the light has all but faded. there are many orange and brown leaves underfoot and the layers of cardigans have increased along with the appearance of long woollen socks indicating a definite set in of the cold weather. we have however, been enjoying the occasional spectacular blue day and as ash has been hitting the countryside on his trusty stead, everything is looking positively lovely.
a few weeks back, we headed west to bristol to see many great friends, some that we have not seen for a very long time, some from home, and even some new friends made. it was a lovely weekend that involved a great deal of cider, pub fare, wandering, street art and general frivolity and fun. bristol, a town i previously visited many-a-time at least six years ago has undergone quite the transformation. embracing the street art scene and funky vibe along with creating some great harbour side areas to enjoy strolls and some fine food and ales. we were fortunate to arrive just after the street art festival to see some incredible buildings transformed by giant murals to small details on the corner of a street when you least expect it. being home to many banksys we also spotted a few of his works about the streets.

we also climbed up to the famous clifton suspension bridge, and were afforded some spectacular views across avon gorge and down through the colourful rows of terraced houses in clifton. not to mention the  pub around the corner with great views of the bridge, where you can enjoy a fine pie on a sunny afternoon out on the terrace. wandering... wobbling back "home" we felt it necessary to sample as many local brews as we could stumble upon including a great little micro brewery and some delicious cider on boat moored along the habour. bristol has us quite charmed and with the easy train ride across, am sure we will be returning to visit again soon.
as we didn't take our normal camera, we only have a few snaps from the iphone and little point and shoot, so excuse the quality.

 

and all that is

It has been a long time between posting and updates to everyone but now that we are finally? sadly? finished with traipsing about the globe and with some sort of regularity seems to be entering our lives once more, for the first time in a while it is possible to sit down and pen an update. 

There have been a lot of changes for us this year, some planned, some unforeseen, some exciting and wonderful, some frustrating and irritating. Thankfully for the large part they have all worked out for the best and involved some pretty great perks such as hanging out with wonderful friends and family in Australia despite the annoyance of having to travel some 17,000 kilometres to have our fingerprints taken by the British Embassy. Of course they granted us our visas in record time (it took longer for Australia Post to move the application we posted to the PO Box next door than the entire visa process to and from Manilla) and they then even let us into the country and we are now slowly but surely setting up life in Oxford. 

The travels have now sadly ended, at least the epic not working variety, we are currently in Bristol staying with friends so we continue to do our best to fit in some small adventures wherever possible. There are many photos and stories of Paris to come. Not to mention our time in Sydney, which for the first time I thoroughly enjoyed. Where previously I found the city confusing and not at all very charming, this time I saw what it seems everyone else has been seeing, a beautiful city with incredible diversity, filled with nature, and little hubs of unique character dispersed about the suburbs. Not to mention great friends, food and weather!

Meanwhile our first week plus in Oxford has been a rather surreal experience as we return to a place that was so familiar but similarly so much has happened since we lived there. In one sense it has been comforting and very easy to already know where to eat, shop, etc and for the most part not having to look at a map to get from a to b. In the other sense it has been exciting to meet new people, explore new areas outside of the centre, begin new jobs and challenges. It is was also quite delightful to rediscover what a beautiful and quaint town Oxford is, filled with such incredible architecture and vibrancy with all of the freshers floating about town. Sadly, it has been quite depressing noticing already the inevitable  onset of winter that has seemingly begun already...

We have now found ourselves a home, albeit a teeny tiny home, it is in a great area just ten minutes north of the centre on the back of our newly acquired bicycles. We move in next week and can't wait to begin exploring our "little village" that seems to be filled mostly with coffee shops, wine cellars and pubs - which may or may not have played a very large part in the selection of our new home. 

Ash is in full swing with his studies and already found himself surrounded by exciting and interesting people in his department as he diligently begins the rather epic task of reading reading and more reading. I am searching but well on the way to being gainfully employed which is fortunate given how much we like to eat. And eating we have spent ample time doing since arriving, well if I were to be honest the eating and drinking has been a rather wonderful status quo for the past few months but it has been great to revisit some favourite old haunts. 

ciao italia, bonjour paris

We have been having a break from the computer, but are back now with our final post from Italy...
Our time in Italy was absolutely magnificent including our final days spent in the slightly less known province of Emilia-Romagna, just to the north of Tuscany and Umbria. Despite being lesser known it is still home to delicious foods (including Parma the home of Parma ham and Parmesan... could it get any better!??!), beautiful nature and some spectacular cities. 
Ferrera was a highlight for both of us, for very different reasons. While I loved the UNESCO listed city filled with immaculately preserved buildings and incredibly characteristic and colourful buildings through the streets. Ash on the other hand was impressed by the cycling city. With a thirty percent modal share, Ferrara is proud of a long standing tradition of cycling transport with the elderly Italians leading in style, there is also a total traffic ban in the old town - the only exception being residents. Consequently we saw a lot of beautiful vintage bikes and locals going about all sorts of daily activities on their bikes. 
Inspired by all this cycling we once more hired bicycles and headed for the countryside. Persuaded by the guarantee of a flat easy and picturesque ride I eventually overlooked my dislike of cycling and agreed so with our rental city bikes (no gears and ridiculously heavy) we made our way out of the city. A minor detour and we were on the path, and back on plan, even possibly enjoying ourselves. Little did we know what awaited us. As we cruised along the canal looking across golden fields we briefly thought ourselves to be in the Netherlands not Italy. However, soon all enjoying of the countryside was destroyed as the path wound through a cute country town and onto a pike road. Exposed to the insane wind that had picked up, it quickly became a miserable exercise that has since traumatised me further making it ever less likely for me to take up this sport... 
From Italy we took the train up to Paris where we spent a thoroughly delightful month catching up with friends and family, wandering the streets, eating magnificent treats, enjoying museums and a touch of shopping. Some snaps to come!

 

 

 

 There was a lot of bicycle eye candy about the streets of Ferrara and some seriously entertaining activities undertaken in unison with cycling (the granny below with cigarette in hand for instance...

Above. On the phone and family transportation, while below the police cycle force keep the streets safe.

 Above. Off to pick up his date? And doggy cycling, the easy way to burn your puppy's energy.

Below. One or two snaps from our cycling adventure 

a bit overdue

We have fallen off the wagon a bit with posting the rest of our photos and stories from our time in Italy. It is probably because we are too busy salivating in the windows of patisseries and eating cheese. Paris is keeping us busy and very happy with the blue blue skies each day, but more on that later.

Firenze was our last stop in Tuscany and while we had both visited previously we were more than happy to revisit the incredible museums, cathedrals, streets and piazzas and even some of the places we did not have time to explore in the past.

After the quiet seclusion of the farms where we stayed and small isolated villages we visited Florence was equal parts affronting and exciting. The drive in to return the car was certainly an experience, and thankfully the police were very kind in providing directions when 'the navigator' tried to have me drive across Ponte Vecchio. On foot we were much more comfortable and happy to explore. And explore we did.

We wandered the streets and particularly enjoyed exploring the “south bank” where the pizza and gelato was far superior, the streets much less crowded and the vibe a bit edgier. There were some great restaurants, our favourite little Piazza della Passera that was a little piece of tranquility to enjoy a drink or gelato. We revisited museum giants such as Uffizzi and shuffled through the immense crowds to enjoy the magnificent artworks. Wandering up to Piazzale Michelangelo we enjoyed David the replica as well as one of many  spectacular sunsets over the beautiful bridges and rooftops of Florence.

In the leather markets we indulged in a few purchases and in the central food markets a few more, although these lasted far less time and we had to refrain from buying the many legs of prosciutto hanging. We did thoroughly relished the $3 bottles of considerably good wine readily available, although this was nothing new for our trip. We enjoyed free live music and piazza markets that offered samples of cheeses and organic beers.

Florence was quite alive and while we largely tried to avoid many of the main tourist areas (the line up to enter the Duomo went the entire way around the cathedral and it is a BIG cathedral) we were thankful that we had been before in quieter times. Although we soon realised that we had both in fact been to Florence in July and while busy, neither of us recalled it being so crazy. This brought us to consider whether we had suddenly become less patient and tolerant of crowds, and that we had somehow glorified the time that we spent there previously or Italy had become immensely more popular in recent years. It seems to me it must have been the latter as I have always been quite impatient and was very aware of the crowds when we spent two hours lining up for the museums in Florence previously. The queue is said to now be up to four hours each day, so we quickly concluded that we could splurge and pay the booking fee to avoid the queue.

Despite the crowds (which outside of the main tourist spots were few) we had a fantastic time in Firenze, it really is a beautiful city. More than anything we loved wandering the streets and enjoying the beautiful architecture and art everywhere in the city from beautiful marble statues to incredible frescoes. Oh and the gelato, we really enjoyed the gelato discovering a mojito flavour perfect for afternoon refreshers and after eight the perfect minty treat at the end of the day!

Above. Looking down the Arno river to the Uffizi Gallery on the left.

Above. The famous Ponte Vecchio with it's jewellery shops either side and an endless stream of tourists crammed in between.

 

 

Above. The delicious 'La Carraia' Gelateria home to the exquisite after eight. The Ricotta and Pear was pretty popular with us also.

 Above and below. The covered market filled with rather tempting foods.

 

 

  

The view of Firenze from Paizzale Michelangelo and just below the replica of David.

 

 

 

 

Above. Enjoying a live orchestra performance in the Piazza.