22nd May - Birthday Today

Another Birthday today - they seem to come round regularly.

I was given a 'Mr. Grumpy' mug! Someone else's surely?

Horses?

After a conversation with a surgical colleague of mine, I wake this morning to find myself with a 10% stake in a racehorse!

Details and hot tips to follow.

ICE CLIMBING

All booked in for a week in New Zealand in July climbing frozen waterfalls.

Someone has to do it !

Slap up meal in Rome with the Latters

Capt. Jon, who was on the Annapurna trip last year, flew to Rome with wife Liz simply to join us for dinner.

We massively overindulged at the rooftop restaurant of a hotel with an incredible view of Rome at night.

Says it all really!

Back to Rome for 3 nights

Another lovely hotel - this was the Inn at the Forum. Literally overlooking the old Roman Forum.

This is the print shop near the Pantheon where I got my souvenirs for framing on our return.
We tracked down more famous stuff. This was Michaelangelo's statue of Moses. (He could paint ceilings too).
And this is the Bocca della Verita as featured in Audrey's movie 'Roman Holiday'.

Venice for 4 nights.

It was great arriving in Venice by train.

Our hotel was just off a side canal of the Grand Canal and we just walked everywhere - it wasn't necessary to swim.
Every time I saw one of these reminded me of John Cleese's travelogue where he ends up ranting about "more fucking gondolas"
An early stop was Harry's bar where such luminaries as Ernest Hemingway and Charlie Chaplin would hang out - a bit of a special place this.

We loved the Doges Palace with it's Bridge of Sighs and also enjoyed the Accademia but just walking around was the best bit of Venice - just being there.

Florence for 6 nights

And so to Florence. This was the view from our hotel window.

Plenty of time for wandering around and seeing the sights. We were a few minutes away from the Duomo, the Uffizi gallery and the Ponte Vecchio.

The weather was perfect, the tourist numbers small, the food and wine superb and the occasional ice cream brilliant.
The Duomo was encased in marble and quite stunning. The view from the top of the dome was worth the climb up.
David was impressive in the Piazza della Signiorinha - this was the copy but we saw the original in the Accademia.
The Uffizi gallery was so good we went twice. Paula came across this handsome fellow in the Palazzo Vecchio.
We had a 5 hour lunch with Mary, one of my colleagues from Wesley hospital, and her husband Steve. This is what holidays are all about!
We also managed a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Worth seeing but being pert of a guided tour is no picnic.

Naples for 3 nights.

The train to Naples took only an hour and a half.

I wanted to go here because during the war my father spent some time in the area and helped with the evacuation when Vesuvius erupted in 1944.

We were in another nice hotel, but Naples was a bit scruffy with rubbish piled up in the street and a lot of grafitti.

We had a trip out to Pompeii - here with Vesuvius behind - and it was most impressive. It was much bigger and better preserved than I expected. Most of the statues and mosaics were now in Naples and we saw them the next day,
We climbed up to the edge of the crater of Vesuvius - but it was only a half hour from a car park almost at the top. Good views over Naples and out to Capri.
This was the mosaic of Alexander the Great found in Pompeii. All the treasures were the more special for being well displayed, incredibly bright & ornate AND 2000 years old.

Rome for 4 days.

We stayed at a very nice hotel - the Hotel Sole al Pantheon - directly opposite the Pantheon itself.

It was a superb base for on-foot exploring.

We managed to take in all the major sites easily in 3 days so it was off to the Colosseum, the Forum, the Capitoline Hill & museums, The Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain.

Here's Paula with the 2,500 year old bronze Etruscan wolf.

The Colosseum was one of those places which turns out to be better than anticipated.
This was the view from near our hotel - not too shabby.

ITALY 2011

To celebrate Paula turning 50 I whisked her off to Italy for 3 weeks.

Here are a few of the 1750 photographs that I took.

Paula's 50th Birthday.

To 'Tartufo' restaurant at Emporium Brisbane for breakfast on the old girl's birthday.

Pertinent B'day card as we are soon to head off to Italy for the birthday trip.

Jake quoted Agatha Christie - but not on his T shirt.
Nicola, Paula & Madeleine.

13th March. Madeleine's 21st Birthday

To the Customs House in Brisbane with family and friends to celebrate Madeleine's 21st Birthday.

An excellent lunch with plenty of champagne.

And a final walk on the red carpet.

At last - a proper driveway at Maleny.

Well, it's taken a few years but the driveway was finally finished this week.

It went from this;

To this;

To this;

Soundwave Festival. Sat. 26th Feb. Brisbane

Soundwave Festival held the Showgrounds in Brisbane.

Excellent day.

I managed to see Feeder, Trash Talk, Bullet for my Valentine, Dommin, I See Stars, Murderdolls (brilliant -197666), Primus, Slash, 30 Seconds to Mars, Pennywise, Queens of the Stone Age, Bring me the Horizon, Rob Zombie and Iron Maiden.

Primus
Highlight of the day was Slash doing 2 old G&R numbers - Sweet Child O'Mine & Paradise City. Great Event.
Queens of the Stone Age

Deva Premal & Miten with Manose. 22nd Feb.

To the Brisbane Powerhouse with daughters Nicola & Madeleine to see Deva Premal.

This was the second time I'd seen her and her partner Miten accompanied by flute player Manose - a Nepalese Tibetan.

Their music is 'new age' but based on ancient mantras and chants. Very relaxing and brings out my inner hippy.

Video is from an older concert but the Gyatri Mantra is one of their better known songs.

SAt. 5th February. Festival of Tibet.

To the Brisbane Festival of Tibet held at the Brisbane Powerhouse.

Guest speaker was Ama Jetsun Pema La - sister of the Dalai Lama.

This was her first visit to Australia. She spoke about her work with the TCV - Tibetan Childrens' Villages. There are currently 11,000 children being educated by them.

Here is Ama with Tenzin Choegyal, the Tibetan musician who lives in Queensland.
Apparently Jetsun Pema played her own mother in the film 'Seven Years in Tibet' starring Brad Pitt.

Visit by old friend Mick.

My old sailing, drinking, medical, drinking, friend Mick dropped in for a few days on his way back to the Institution which is the British National Health Service.

Took him & Susie to Mooloolaba for R & R.

Then, in Brisbane, to Restaurant II. Very, very good to see him.