Residenzplatz Market – Salzburg, Austria

A Wonderful Christmas market on the Residenzplats, next to the Salzburg Cathedral (also known as ‘Dom’)(Pictured in background)… 🙂 **

Depart: Stellenbosch; Arrive: Glentana – Part.8

We spent a beautiful day on the beach….. 😀 It was super windy (which I dislike), but the heat was soooooo intense, I think we would have suffered without that muscled breeze!!!

Enjoying our lazy day on the beach…

Doing our “flexi-toes” !!! 🙂

Without realizing it, we spent a good 4 hours of doing sudoku, reading our books & lazing under our umbrellas!!! It was pure bliss!!! 🙂 This was our last day in Stellenbosch… & it was a beautiful one!!! 😀

The next morning we set out to meet up with our friends in Glentana… we were super excited to spend the next couple of days of doing nothing, spending hours on the beach & having a good time!!!

On route, we decided to stop at Lourensford Wine Farm for a breakfast (to early to do the “wine-thing” 😉 )… It is one of my favourite wineries ever…. it is wonderfully beautiful!!!!

It did not disappoint…. & He-who-thinks-he’s-boss felt a pang of regret that we did not visit here sooner…. (I told him so 😉 )… but nevertheless, we had a great breakfast on a stunning farm!!!! 😀

Lourensford Tasting Room Entrance

Our breakfast spot…

From here we set out on our 5 hour drive to Glentana… 🙂 I forgot to add that we scorched ourselves on the beach the day before…. so bad that we had to put towels over our legs to protect it from the sun…. It was Ouchie!!!! 😀

Our “towel protection”…

 We arrived in Glentana… super stoked…. a few hours later…. We had a great day catching up with our friends… Enjoying the feeling of complete relaxation!!!!

My beautiful rose from HWTHB!!! 🙂

The next day was Christmas day…. & true to our beautiful South Africa, the day was sunny, warm & inviting!!!! We spent the entire morning (and most of the afternoon) playing games on the beach, reading, sleeping & just generally being…. 🙂

Setting up our Gazebo…

After beach mode…

Also true to Christmas day in South Africa…. later in the afternoon it started raining… Oh my, how I love this gorgeous day!!! 😀

The guys preparing Christmas dinner in the rain… 🙂

The girls setting up the table & preparing other dishes…

 We had a fantastic dinner…. great friends… awesome conversation…. yummy yummy food!!!! Interesting fact for the evening… we did not leave the dinner table until well after 24h00… we played card games, drank wine & had a great time!!!! 😀

Great wines…

Playing card games until the wee hours of the night…

What an unforgettable evening/day… it was spent with truly fantastic people!!! Can’t wait to do it again!!! 😀 **

Stratford-on-Avon, UK – Duck Delicacy

My second post for the night & my Travel Lane memory for the week!!! 😀

In December 2005, me & a few friends did a bit of holiday work on a farm in the Stratford-on-Avon region… Yes, it was beautiful… It was super hard work… – – – Not work that I’ll be doing if it wasn’t for the fact that we were in England – – – I’ll never do it here in South Africa!!! 😉

Our job was to wake up super early (in the freaken freezing cold)… catch duck & turkeys… put them in a dark room… ready to start the process of “preparing” them for christmas dinner!!!! 😉

Plucking the feathers… taking out the intestines… weighing… packaging… etc. etc!!! 😀 How on earth was I able to do it?? – Today I don’t know 😀 – But it was fun & a beautiful place… Maybe you know the place… Lower Clopton Farm Shop??? Yes, we lived there for a few weeks… maybe you ate one of my prepared turkey’s/ducks!!! 😀 **

Yup, that’s me… & a waxed duck!!!! 😀

Christmas with Friends!!!

We started off our weekend with a Christmas dinner with our friends. Lately we haven’t been getting together as much as friends should :(, but nevertheless, we were able to all get together for a very enjoyable evening!!! (with a secret santa event for after dinner – yummy yummy truffles!!!)

My friend bought these HUGE (understatement) crackers for us to “pop”!!! 😀 Inside were all types of games to keep us busy – – – but only for a little while!!! It was super fun catching up with everyone!!! 🙂 After a whole week of hard work… it was even harder staying awake for this very rare get-together!!! Despite having a hard week behind us… we ended up leaving there well after midnight!!!

A few snaps of the evening…

The huge cracker!!!

A fun mini puzzle!!!

Christmas moment!!!

'Twas a serious moment!!!

Secret Santa rounds!!!

Candid moment!!!

I can not remember what this was about...

There are also a few admin situations that I would like to make you aware of…

1. As you have probably taken note of – – – I’ve rearranged the layout of my blog quite a bit!!! So, if you are looking for recent posts, archives etc., these are at the bottom of my blog…
2. I have also added a blogrol to my blog – – – It is only a few (of the many) of my favourite blogs, I will be expanding it as I have more time!!! 🙂 But for now – – – please have a look at these blogs – – – you might find that you also want to follow these blogs more regularly!!! 😀
3. I have to award some Versatile blogger awards, as well as Liebster awards… I have NO idea which of the blogs that I am following has less than 200 followers (which is a criteria for the Liebster award), so if you would like me to take your blog into consideration for this award, please just drop me a comment with the amount of followers that you have (or just state that you comply)!!! You will be helping me out a lot!!! 🙂

So, keep in touch for links to fabulous blogs & some more random posts from me!!! 😀 Drop me a comment for your thoughts, hello’s & most importantly amount of followers (if less than 200)… 😀 **

My 101th Post!!! Ready For Christmas…

I was pretty bummed last night when I posted my post & saw that it was already my 100th post… 😦 I kind of thought that I would make my 100th special…. Nevertheless… I decided not to dwell on something I cannot change – – – I would just make this, my 101th post special!!! 😀

Me & ‘He-who-thinks-he’s-boss’ started a tradition yesterday by making our very own Christmas tree!!! I had an idea that I saw in a magazine somewhere & had all the necessary “ingredients” to be able to make it!!! (Of course with a few alterations…) 🙂

View from below… A few sticks, ceiling sealer stuffies, xmas lights & Voila!!! Our very own homemade Christmas Tree!!!

We used the Ceiling sealer stuffies to secure our sticks & also for a special type wintery decoration…

It still needs a Star or an Angel on top – – – we’re working on that!!!!

I also tried something last night that I have been wanting to try for AGES!!!!  – – – I created my own bokeh pattern!!! – – – I actually need a lens with a bigger f-stop to get this photo much better… – – – but for now… I was quite excited about what I was well able to achieve, wrong lens and all!!! I just love this…

My Star-bokeh Xmas Tree with He-who-thinks-he’s-boss lazing in front of it on the couch!!!

Ain’t it just super cute?? Now we are ready for Christmas celebrations with the people we love and the Presence & Love of Jesus Christ with us… Bring it on!!! 🙂 **

Are your Christmas trees up yet??

Galeries Lafayette – Paris, France

This place was breathtaking!!! 😀 Overwhelming is an understatement!!! Luxury shopping on level upon level upon level of beauty!!! I just love this shot of the centre dome window with the Christmas decorations of 2004 hanging from the ceiling!!! Me & my mom walked in here for quite a while before heading back onto the streets of Paris!!

France – Champs Elysees!!!

Good Evening everyone!! It’s been quite a few days since my last post!! & I am excited to share with you my Travel Lane memory for the week!! 😀

I find myself once again in the situation where I can’t decide which photo I like best – – – So I am sharing both!! Not for you to choose, but because both are special in a different way!! This is the Champ Elysees at night (9 December 2004 at 18h50!) taken with a Kodak Easyshare CX7310 digital camera! I love the christmas lights in the colour… & I love the movement in the B/W !!! I hope you enjoy it as well!!!

Champs Elysees truly is a magical place over the Christmas period. Although we were only there for five days, it was addictive!! Me & my mom were out and about every night… (there was a fabulous candy store… ‘Glup’… such sweet memories!!!) 😉

I hope to return soon!!! 🙂 **