Catching up

A couple of LOs from the last school holidays. I am trying to catch up before the christmas holidays arrive.

The first is from our short trip to Northumberland in the summer. On the way back down, we made a brief stop at Housesteads Roman Fort.This next one is from Germany at half term showing my guys bobsleighing. I was right behind them taking this photo. I was very slow that the boy who was behind me caught up with me, my guys thought it was hilarious. Now, my excuse is this. I was going really fast till I see a sign saying "Slow down" so I hit the brake to be greeted with another sign saying "Don't brake" which got me thoroughly confused and by the 10th sign, my vehicle had lost quite a lot of speed. So there.

Not much to share but I've been busy

Honest! I was busy creating and writing my article for Scrapbook Magazine, unfortunately you can't see the results until January. Now that they are done, I can relax. Here a couple that I can show you though.

The first features a photo from Disney, remember that cheesy photo at Buffalo Bill's show ? It was taken by one of the usher who must have the steadiest hands, my camera registered a speed of 0.6 seconds as it was set on AV ( that is aperture priority on my camera ). Even I can't handhold at that speed.

Secondly is my ColorCombos LO for this week. The dodge blue, pear and cool mint were perfect for these photos of my boys. As for the 4th colour, floral white, well, I managed to fit that in somehow LOL. Having done this LO, I've noticed that I have put my titles in the same place.

Linderhof Castle

On the last day ( ok, supposedly last day but more of that later! ) we had planned on spending the day in Munich but having been completely mesmerized by King Ludwig's castle, I persuaded A that we should visit Linderhof, King Ludwig's Royal Villa.
Linderhof is just the other side of the mountain from us but the shortest route of 28 miles took us through Austria. We were excited about "going" to Austria as none of us has been before. We only stopped to take a few photos at this lake but we resolved to visit properly next time.

This is Linderhof, with my reluctant troop lined up front. It is tiny but the only completed project of King's Ludwig. The outside statues and urns have all been covered for winter, can you see a little tall hut to the side of the photo ? Unfortunately we missed seeing the cascade and Neptune fountain because of this.

The inside was wow, totally amazing! Totally over the top but it is sad to hear the guide saying that King Ludwig spent most of his time alone in this castle. He even avoided the servants, they were not allowed to be in the same room as him. He had an "elevator type" table that was set out in the kitchen and winched up to the dining table on the first floor where he dined alone.

Glad we made a detour to Linderhof.

After we drove up to Munich, the roads and speed of vehicles is quite scary. Not surprisingly, we were delayed on the motorway because a motorcyclist was in an accident. We had a late lunch at Prinz Myshkin ( thanks Alexa ) and went to the airport. We were early so we braced ourselves for a long wait but an hour before departure we saw that the flight was delayed for an hour, not long after, it was CANCELLED...the plane has a mechanical problem. What a nightmare but luckily it was Saturday night otherwise the boys would have missed school. We were bussed and fed at a hotel about 10km from the airport. Another flight has been scheduled for 10am tomorrow. "No, it is not the same plane", we were assured by an employee.

Happy birthday to me

Another year, eeek. Not that I am feeling older than 25, he, he.
A is away but he entrusted the presents giving to H. Boy, he did well, he remembered! I got a troll bead and the trollbead leather bracelet, a box of metal paperclips from Paperchase ( Yay, have I not trained them well ? ) and a set of travel bottles for my cleanser/toner/ moisturiser...all those stuff a girl needs to keep age at bay. I hate dispensing them into smaller bottles but with the travel restriction looking to stay, I hope these bottles don't leak.

I did this layout this morning for colorcombosgalore.blogspot.com. Love the orange, made me think Autumn immediately.
And hope to go shopping as soon as I finish this post. I am looking for a light cashmere cardigan, preferably one that is not too "twinset" looking. Wish me luck. I might even stop at a car showroom...a new car for me is on offer but I am hesitant to spend, what with the world economy the way it is.

Art Journalling with Dina Wakley

We are in week 2 of Dina's class. I've been busy gessoeing and painting the background and collageing these pages. I love how they have turned out but not too keen on getting messy/inky/gluey whilst I made them.

Whilst I am not keen to embrace the inky fingers like Dina, I love her "I don't search for the perfect image, if I've got it, I use it, if I don't got it, I don't worry about it." So these five pages were very quick to collage. When I didn't have the perfect image, I drew it...the treble cleft, the castle and the aeroplane were all drawn quickly ( without worrying if they are perfect! )

I can't wait for next week to start filling up the pages with my story.

Neuschwanstein Castle

On our second day in Fuessen, we went really early to visit Hohenswangau and Neuschwanstein, about 5km from Fuessen. A was quite keen to walk there but I wasn't convinced. I am sure we can walk the 5km there and back but what about the climb to the castles ? I would have expired, I think!
When we arrived, there was quite a lot of fog/mist/low clouds around so I didn't get a good photo of Hohenswangau. In fact, Neuschwanstein wasn't even visible from below at that time. We visited Hohenswangau first on the 9.45am tour. This is definitely the best order to do them as it will be an anti-climax to visit a small castle after Neuschwanstein. Our tour at Neuschwanstein was second at 11.40am.

Here are some photos of Neuschwanstein castle.

The walls of the castle is undergoing restoration, unfortunately during our visit, on this side that you can view from Marienbrucke.

A photo of Hohenschwangau from a picture window in Neuschwanstein castle.

At the end of our visit, Neuschwanstein from below...the castle was obscured by morning mist earlier.

Ok, some background info for this wonderful castle. Neuschwanstein means 'New swan stone castle' after the Swan Knight Lohengrin, of Wagner's opera of the same name. In origin, the palace has been the Schwanstein, the seat of the knights of Schwangau, whose emblem had been the swan.
This castle was built by King Ludwig who visited Château de Pierrefonds in France for inspiration. If you have watched 'Merlin' on tv, you might know that Camelot in Merlin is actually the chateau.

I know Neuschwanstein from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It is also the inspiration for the castles at Disneyland parks.Owned by the state, unfinished, inside decor reminds me of William Morris...wood panelling below and wallpaper above...although I think the "wallpaper" part is painted in Neuschwanstein.

If you want to know more about this amazing fairy tale castle, you can visit http://www.neuschwanstein.de/.

Halloween is here

Are you doing anything tonight ? Are you getting dressed up ? We usually go to the village pub for a party but not tonight. J has a stinking cold, H and I are coming down with something. I haven't even carved a pumpkin!

Fortunately Halloween came early to Disney and I managed to get some excellent photos of pumpkin headed "workers" around Disneyland Paris when we were there in September.

Ok, off to keep warm and try some remedies to ward off the cold.