Cordoba

Cordoba

31 Aug 2008

Spain has lots of rail services to Cordoba but I chose the slowest and the cheapest way there from Seville. I still arrived in plenty of time to visit the mesquita cathedral. 



I dropped my backpack at the bus station and caught a bus downtown. I'd read on the internet that Cordoba was quiet unlike the hectic pace of Granada. Wrong - it was just as busy as both Seville and Granada but far less charming.



The mesquita cathedral is quite an amazing building but Cordoba is one hot and dry place which doesn't encourage one to linger.



Once I'd visited the synagogue, I continued on my journey to Granada to see the Alhambra,

Jillian

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Seville

Seville

I know I asked for some warm weather but I didn't really envision the 35-37° heat that faced me in Seville, Cordoba and Granada. Thankfully I was able to take advantage of the siesta or was on an air conditioned bus during the heat of the day. I'm so glad I decided to make the trip to Southern Spain especially to see the Alhambra and to visit Seville.



I haven't had the chance to work on any photos from Cordoba or Granada yet but I've put together a few from Seville. I stayed at the Hotel Alminar quite close to the Cathedral. Not only was it a bargain it was vey well appointed, central, spotlessly clean and you could make yourself a cup of tea!







Some of the highlights of Seville - the orange trees, the sound of horses hooves, the cathedral and the view from the giralda, the cloistered shopping arcades, the Real Alcazar and the afternoon siestas!

Bye for now,

Jillian

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Paris

Paris

28 Aug 2008

Greetings from sunny Spain. I'm now in Seville but tomorrow I'm heading to Granada and then onto Barcelona.

I'm enjoying my last few days travelling solo as I'll be joining a GAP trip this coming Sunday.


I'm assuming wifi connections won't be available at the GAP hotels so I'll try updating the blog from Barcelona then you may not hear from me again until my last stop - Lisbon.



So until then I'll leave you with some images from Paris.




See you all again soon,





Jillian

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Glasgow

Glasgow

23 Aug 2008

I had very limited internet access during my stay in Glasgow so few emails and no photos.



The IASP congress may have had 5000+ delegates but only 50 terminals. Sometimes things got a big ugly in the fight for the internet. Anyway here are some of the photos from Glasgow.



I'm now in Paris having arrived here yesterday. Paris is still quite dreary but I'm heading out the door in 5 minutes.




I walked the streets of the Marais in the rain yesterday. The area is still as lively as ever even in the rain and the shops are to die for.



I am not going inside the doors as I have no space in my pack for shopping.

Jillian

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London Calling

London Calling

14 Aug 2008

Don't give me this rubbish that jetlag doesn't exist. I've been up since 2.00 a.m. Luckily the Olympic swimming starts at 3.00 in the morning in London so I've ben watching all the swim finals. The English tv commentary is hysterical. This was their response to the Australian womens 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay swim.



"Fantastic time, professional race as we've come to expect from the Australians. Now if our girls had swum a better tactical race in the semis and made it into the final they probably would have been in the medal hunt for a bronze or silver." But they didn't, did they???




Here are a few photos from London. I've been in London for 2 days and despite the jetlag I've been taking photos and lots of them. I can say the new camera does very well in low light conditions. The 2 black and white photos were shot at 1600, no flash and came out well. 



I normally shoot in RAW but I shot all jpegs yesterday as I'm trying to conserve my memory cards. I've been looking in the shops but have bought nothing so far.




I always leave my shopping until the end of the trip or post things home so I don't have to lug them around. My brain is still a bit too fuzzy to make any decisions anyway. 

Time for me to get up and start the day. 

Jillian

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White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies

White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies

4 Aug 2008

As Friday will be my last day at work for a while, I baked some cookies to take to work. I picked up some Callebaut white chocolate and macadamia nuts at my local fruit market a few weeks ago. I was first introduced to Callebaut chocolate when I worked in Canada. Most of the patients would bring in Laura Secord chocolates as a thank-you gift, a bit like Cadbury Roses, but every now and again a patient would arrive bearing the tell tale gold box from Callebaut. I would carefully select 1 or 2 chocolates for my daily ration to make the box last as long as possible.



I decided to combine both ingredients and tracked down a recipe for white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies. I baked them on Sunday morning whilst simultaneously taking a phone call; finishing off my tax and designing a wedding album. It's all been a little bit hectic around here. The cookie mix made way more cookies than I expected, so the batch should last the Department for at least 2 days. I haven't tasted one yet but they look okay.



Hopefully the next photos I'll be posting will be from my trip. 

Until then,

Jillian

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