November Reading List

I have been quite lapse in my blogging and furthermore in my posts about all the books I have been reading. I think I last did a post about what I read in July, so now I skip a few months and hop onto November. It has been a good month for reading as you can see from the photos.

They were all very good to be honest, but I will say that I loved My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and now it has been made into a TV series too. I have her next book in the series which I will begin now.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, it was not the nicest of weather but I did get out and about on both days. I had a lovely lunch with some friends and we did the secret Santa game and I got three lovely gifts from Hannah. There are lots of Christmas markets around and I have only been to the one  in Bellevue. It has such lovely food stalls from all over the world.

Wishing you all a great start for the coming week

A Visit to the International Antarctic Research Centre, Christchurch, NZ

One of the places we visited in Christchurch was the International Antarctic Research Centre, it is located next to the airport.

I was quite excited to visit this place and find out about life on this huge continent, all about the wildlife and what research is done there.

There is quite a few things to do in this place and they are all fun. They have some blue penguins which have been injured and therefore cannot live in the wild anymore. There is a feeding time and the person explains about them.  Also we got to experience an Antarctic storm, you are given warm clothes to put on and the storm weather begins. It goes to -8 and there is a wind chill of -18, it was pretty cold, but I am sure I have felt that cold here. (or maybe not)

Alessio enjoyed two things, one was the Hägglund, which is an all-terrain amphibious Antarctic vehicle. The ride takes only 5 mins but you are thrown around and jolted up and down on an obstacle course. It gives you a insight into how people travel around.

I think though for Alessio his favourite was getting to see and pat the huskies. They were all very calm and more than likely used to lots of people coming in to pat them. The only thing the women said was not to look them straight into the eye. I stayed for a bit but Alessio stayed for as long as he could. He looked like a natural and no wonder he pesters me to get him a dog.

There was also a 4D cinema, which we went twice and for me was the first time I had experienced this and certainly was not expecting water in my face.

Of course there are the exhibitions about what the scientists and researchers do there and the animals that live there. All in all a great place to visit and interesting for adults and kids alike.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.

Sunset on the Otago Peninsula, New Zealand

I do love to see sunsets and sunrises, this one was seen returning from our wildlife tour on the Otago peninsula. As we headed off to Dunedin, we were lucky to see this sunset, I took the photos from inside the minivan.

Today I went to the Christmas Bazaar, held each year by the St.Andrew´s Anglican Church. It has all the usual stuff you can think of, books, dvds, British food, Christmas crackers, toys and some other stuff. I, of course bought books and treated myself to some scones and a tin of custard.

Tonight I am hosting a staff (Christmas) meal, everyone brought stuff to work during the week I then brought to my place. It will be my first fondue of the season, there will be salads and desserts and of course drinks.

Wishing you all a lovely evening

The Magic Fountain, Barcelona

Our trip to Barcelona took place during the second week of the school holidays, we were here for 4 full days, so we packed in a lot of sightseeing.

The first evening we went to see The Magic Fountain which is situated very near to Plaza Espana, in the Montjuic area. It takes place in the evenings and it depends of the time of year as well. In October it is on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.

There was a huge crowd as to be expected but we found a spot to wait. At 9pm it started and we were not disappointed. The music, the different colours and the changing of the water made for a great spectacle. It did kind of remind me of the light show we saw in Singapore.

It lasted around 20mins and afterwards we went back to our hotel. I took my new camera with me and it seems I still do not know how to use it. I tried to put the photos on my laptop but they would not download. I hope I manage to do it.

We are not really in the Halloween mood, I have been ill since the weekend and have been off work too. Alessio is going to a Halloween party this afternoon, so at least he will have some fun. I guess I should get some sweets in case some kids come knocking on the door.

Happy Halloween

Wellington Botanical Gardens, New Zealand

For our summer holidays we spent three weeks in New Zealand, I divided up the weeks between the North and South Islands. Our last stop on the North Island was in the capital Wellington. As with much cities there is lots to do and see, one of which was taking the funicular up for a lovely view.

It leaves from downtown Lambton Quay and you arrive in the suburbs of Kelburn in only 5 mins. We took in the views of the city and surrounding area and went on to visit the Cable Car Museum. It is free entry and very small so worth a look since you are up there anyway.

Afterwards we walked back down through the botanical gardens, which was a very pleasant walk. Obviously it depends on what the season is and as it was winter when we were there, there was not so many flowers. There were ponds, a Treehouse information centre, playground and rose garden.

Once we left the gardens we made our way back in the city centre and got a bit lost too, but we arrived sound and safe.

Alessio has been away this week on a cruise, which he enjoyed but would not go on another one though. Next week we are going to Barcelona and we will go to see another match of FC Barcelona. This time they will play against Sevilla.

Hope you are all having a great weekend