While there was a blizzard outside, we were mostly contained to the insides of our house!! I had a brief fascination with the shrub outside our window…
It seems like today promises to heat up some (not that -15°C is warm… just warmer that -30°C!)
Keep warm people, enjoy your Sunday…
In every town (lets say most towns – seeing how I have certainly not visited every town in SA)… In most towns in South Africa you will find a Church Street – in many cases this will be the main street in the town!!!
We found in UK (in the little amount of towns/villages that we visited), we always found a Sheep street!!! We had fun with this – but seeing that they were all jokes you ‘had-to-be-there-for-it-to-be-funny’ – it’s no use in sharing them here…
What I am going to share is of course the photo I took a typical ‘Sheep st.’ signage!! (It looks funny because I changed the perspective quite a lot – but I quite like the almost cartoonish effect this created!!!) 🙂
What do you think? Yay or Nay?? 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!! 😀 **
I noticed that I’ve edited these photos, but have not shared them yet… (the photos) nothing extremely special, but the Gautrain is – – – The Gautrain is revolutionary in South Africa’s infrastructure (engineering & design) – – – Although it is not near the complexity of your standard European underground, it really is a benchmark for future South African developments!!! – – –
I know I took more photos of this trip, but I just happen to stumble upon these three unshared, edited photos & thought I’ll share it with you!!! 😀
I’ve only ridden it on three occasions, but I can tell you with total honesty – it transports me to my (extremely) happy place!!! It’s 30 minutes of pure bliss… It truly makes me feel as if I’m somewhere in Europe – I mean, who wouldn’t like that?? 😉 **
Time for a Travel Lane memory (boy, I haven’t done one of these in a while!!!)… Tonight, I am returning to London!!! Rewind to year 2006, I have just purchased my new Samsung Digital camera the weekend before – so let’s call this trip its maiden voyage!!! 😉
Me and my ex-boyfriend had a weekend trip to London when we were working in Brighton… Of course, not having a clue yet how the camera worked, I took this shot… way to slow shutter speed – but in the end – I love this shot!!! It is one of my favourites – It reminds me of a faraway memory!!!
Approaching Tower Bridge – December 2006
After He-who-thinks-he’s-boss (HWTHB) returned back to the hotel for our second to last evening in Edmonton, we decided to head out to Jasper for the evening!! If we left immediately (at approx. 17h30) we would be in Jasper in 3.5 hours… Soooooo, we left for Jasper immediately!! 😉 Canadian Rockies, here we come!!! 😀
I took a few photos along the way…
I could not believe that it was still so light so late at night – And it was cloudy!!! – – – In South Africa (even in summer) it barely stays light much after 19h00!! – – –
We arrived in Jasper and set out to find a place to sleep – as we went in the spur of the moment, we did not book any accommodation!!! – I know, daredevils… 😉 But it was no problem… We drove around the town of Jasper, chose a place that looked quaint and went in!! In the end we slept in Astoria Hotel – it cost $97 for the room (no breakfast included) – this, for us seemed steep (when compared to the price of our hotel in Edmonton ito what you get…)!!! 😦
As it was already late, we set out to get some foodies!! We ended up in Jasper Brewing Company… It was delicious!!! We enjoyed the multiple screen all showing highlights of the ice hockey… (I must say by the end of our trip we were quite into ice hockey – & I am NEVER into sports… it grew on us 🙂 )…
My very interesting Blueberry-Vanilla beer… Yum!!!
The next morning we awoke with our first (semi) worthy view of the Rockies… it was beautiful… ice-capped and huge!!! I could get used to waking up to this view…. 😀
HDR of our view through our un-openable screen!!!
Breakfast at Lou Lou’s…
We thought we’d go up the cable-way… but it was not running… 😦 It seems we arrived in Jasper in a quite time – the slopes was not open, the cable-way was not running, but it was still a beautiful place with a gorgeous little town!!! We could imagine that during the right season, Jasper would be a haven to hang out at!!! 😀
Totem Pole…
A view of Jasper!!
We headed back to Edmonton for our last day that day… The one day we spent in Jasper was a memorable one for sure!!! …& although it was a long(ish) drive, we decided that the experience was worthwhile!!! 🙂 **
By Monday we have almost totally recovered from jet lag… (finally 😉 )… & the plan was for Deborah & Debra to show us around town: where’s cool – where’s not; what’s fun – what’s not; what’s in downtown – what’s not; the enormity of West Edmonton mall; a drive by a couple of PCL’s projects and just general having a good time!!!
I found it interesting that ALL electricity boxes were beautifully painted!!!
The Mind Bender – world’s largest indoor triple loop roller coaster!!! – out of order –
Visiting my favourite-stest-stest-stest store in the whole wide world!!! 🙂
Edmonton skyline – what a change from the snowy view!!!
Probably ons of the flattest landscapes that I have seen – ever!!!
The hotel offered wine-tasting every weekday – BONUS!!!
We had some random explorations of the area close to the hotel!!!
So colourful I couldn’t resist taking a photo!!!
Visited the Old Strathcona farmers market!!
Signage
Canada flag…
On Tuesday HWTHB (He-who-thinks-he’s-boss) was kept busy with site visits and THE big interview… Stressful day for both of us…. Fortunately I could keep myself busy – unfortunately I had no transport… but oh well… I got to eat my yummy sushi and explore all the super funky shops on Whyte avenue!!! That kept me busy for quite a few hours!!! The day was soon over… 🙂
Highly recommended – ‘Tokyo Noodle Shop’
Yumyum!!!
At the end of Tuesday, HWTHB was made a very nice offer by PCL Construction company…. He had until the Friday to think about it and sign… and so my emotional roller coasters starts…!!! Hint: He didn’t sign the documents on Tuesday!!! 😀 **
Over the next two days we were catching up on rest/sleep and recovering from jet lag!!! … As we did not have a vehicle yet, we were limited to our immediate environment!!! – – – 82nd avenue – or Whyte avenue!!! – – – What a quaint and fun avenue!! We explored the beyonds as well… but found that this avenue had true character!!! 🙂
And of course we had to drink Starbucks… I know – totally overrated, but you can’t have access to a Starbucks and not drink one of their ridiculously overpriced (and not even that yummy) coffees!!! 😉
We still had a good amount of snow the next day… just a bit more for us to enjoy!!! 🙂
He-who-thinks-he’s-boss is convinced that Kelsey’s has the best ribs in the world… 😀 He reckons that he’ll fly to Canada just to have ribs at Kelsey’s!!! 😉
A Snowy view…
We had a HUGE lunch at one of PCL’s employees home!!! Oh my, what a feast!!! – – – I don’t know why I didn’t take any photos of it!!! – – – But it was fabulous for a Sunday!!! We had a great afternoon!!!
Serious jet-lagging!!! @04h00
We loved the fact that we could see the temperature without having to turn on the television!!! Across the street from the hotel (in view of our room), we had a thermometer showing the temperature… The coldest (that we saw) was -4 degrees Celsius!!! – – – For us, that is very very very cold!!! – – – Minimum temperatures in winter in South Africa average about 7 degrees Celsius!!! So, bbbbrrrrrr!!!! 😉 **
We had a very long (&very tight) flight schedule to Canada… Our itinerary:
Johannesburg (depart 21h20) to Amsterdam (arrive 11h30) – 11h15 flight
2hour stop over
Amsterdam (depart 13h30) to Calgary (arrive 14h30) – 8h flight
3hour stop over
Calgary (depart 17h30) to Edmonton (arrive 18h30) – 1 hour flight
On our way to the airport we got a call from KLM airways, our flight was delayed with two hours… ;( oh my word the implications of this – – – They had to reroute our flight because we would not make the flight from Amsterdam to Calgary… 😦 & because UK and USA required transit visas (even if you would not leave the airport), we could not fly via one of those countries…
Our itinerary ended up like this:
Johannesburg (depart 01h40) to Amsterdam (arrive 12h30) – 11h15 flight
0.5hour stop over
Amsterdam (depart 13h00) to Vancouver (arrive 15h30) – 9h30 flight
3hour stop over
Vancouver (depart 18h15) to Edmonton (arrive 19h30) – 1h15 hour flight
These two guys looked totally shocked by how tired we were!!! – – – @Vancouver Airport Lounge!!! – – – (mind the pun 😉 )
Oh my… we were REALLY tired when we landed in Edmonton!!! Luckily, the people were there to pick us up and take us to the Hotel!!! 🙂 I was mesmerised by all the lights of the place (I’m a lights nut – I just love it!!!) 😉 … Edmonton seemed much bigger than I imagined!!! 🙂 We had a good rest… and woke up the next day with – – – SNOW!!!! – – – 😀
Edmonton skyline – View from our room – and a thin spread of snow… EVERYWHERE!!!!
Our other view…. Whyte avenue!!!
I was super excited… 😀 I’ve only ever seen snow that have melted at the foot of a mountain – Nothing like this!!! 🙂 It was beautiful!!! We spent the day lazing about town, enjoying the unfamiliarity (for me) of the snow…
Everyone drives HUGE trucks!!! He-who-thinks-he’s-boss was in his element with these toys!!!
“Unspoilt” snow in front of a little church!!!
The snow quickly melted as the day grew older…
We went to sleep very early the next day – I think about 16h30… Jet lag really is not a very nice thing… More to come – so stay tuned!!! 😉 **
Good evening everyone!!! 😀
It has been 2 weeks since we left for Edmonton, Canada…
It has been 5 days since we’ve been back in South Africa…
It has been 1 day since we have fully recovered from jet lag…
I have fully caught up on 175 emails (mostly blog posts)…
I am almost done with editing the photos from our trip…
So I decided to share two with you for a little teaser!!! 😉 **
On our first day we had snow – most I’ve seen in real life!!!
We saw a rainbow in the sky on our way to a surprise (for you) location!!!
We have a long weekend here in South Africa!!! No work tomorrow, or Monday, or Tuesday…!!! Yay for us!!! 😉 So, although it is not official across the world – I bid thee a wonderful weekend!!! 🙂 **
Wow… I have been lacking in posts the last month!!! Have been crazy busy at work, been organising our Canada trip (which by the way – we are flying of to tomorrow evening!! 😀 ), but ever since we switched off our satellite television (way proud of us!!!…), we have been keeping busy with other stuff – rather than technology stuff!!! 🙂 My apologies!!! 🙂
Tonight, I am sharing the awesomely majestic Stephansdom Cathedral in Austria!!! This is a seriously impressive building in the middel of Vienna!!! It towers above the other buildings!!! & has a very gothic feel to it!!! But is is impressive (times 17 000!!! 😉 )…
Stephansdom Cathedral – December 2004
So, that’s all I have time for tonight – have to go and pack for the awesome trip to Edmonton, Canada that lies ahead!!! 😀 It is an almost 24hr trip 😦 but looking very much forward to the week ahead!!! & I’ll be coming back with lots of photos & hopefully unforgettable memories to share with you!!! 🙂 **
