AWESOME!!!

Hi all

Guys from work are going to the champions league game tonight, Arsenal v Porto. They have season tickets, which is the only reason they can go as these tickets are so in demand they are not even offered to the general public. One of them had to pull out, and they asked if I wanted to step in... AWESOME!!!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately too. Matt and Thea haven't been on too many adventures, so nothing to post about really. We are, however, going to Italy on Saturday for 11 days, so we'll be sure to post the itinerary before we leave.

See you in 79 days!

Eastern Europe Tour

Hi everyone

Just realised that Thea and I haven't updated you on the tour we did! Sorry.

Anyway, it was lots and lots of fun. Berlin was the first place we went. Thea particularly liked it there, as she has studied so much of WWII that it was great to actually go and see the city where so much happened. The Berlin wall was a highlight, as was the Reichstag (parliament house).

From 2008_08_25 Germany

After Berlin we went to Prague. On the way we stopped in to Dresden. 80% of the city was destroyed in WWII in one night by the Allies, but most of it has been rebuilt.

Prague was probably the prettiest city. It was like something from a Disney cartoon. Mission Impossible 1 was filmed there. The beers were cheap, and the food tasty. Below is a photo of a church in the main square of town.

From 2008_08_26 Prague

After Prague we went to Krakow via Auschwitz. Auschwitz was a very emotional day trip. We went to both Auschwitz and Birkenau, the latter being the biggest extermination camp created by th Nazis. There are some photos here if you're interested. Krakow had a really cool town square, with a market place in the center which sold lots of Amber jewellery. We spent lots of time perusing the markets, and Thea bought some earings. We also did a walking tour showing the Jewish sights, including the getto where those Jews who worked in factories lived. We also saw many of the places where the Schindlers List movie was filmed.

From 2008_08_29 Krakow

The last city we visited was Budapest. It has a big castle in Buda, and a really nice Parliament House in Pest. The Danube isn't as blue as I have been lead to believe though... Had we had more time we would have gone into one of the Hungarian baths that are there, which are apparently some of the best in the world, better than the Turkish varieties.

From 2008_09_01 Budapest

Hope you enjoy the photos!

By the way, this time in three weeks we'll be in Italy with Grant and Dee, and in 96 days we'll be back in Sydney!!!

Cool gadgets

There're a few cool things that have either just been released, or will be soon.

Firstly, Apple will be announcing their new generation of ipods and other goodies this month. Worth keeping an eye on that.

Secondly, Sony have just released the second generation of their ebook reader. It only came out today, and a guy at work got one. It's pretty cool. The reader is to books what an ipod is to a cd. The previous model wasn't available in Aus, so I wonder if they will release it there this time. Check it out here.

Thirdly, google has just released the beta version of their new browser, Chrome.  I has lots of pretty cool features, and will be fully open source and so competing with firefox.  I'm currently using it right now...

Lastly, Canon have recently announced their new mid range DSLR, the 50D.  It is 15mp, 6.3fps, but what's more impressive is that it will be very low noise.  Approximately a stop and a half less noise than the 40D (which I have), and probably more than 3 stops less noisy than the 20D.  This means that you can shoot at iso 1600 on the 50D, and get less noise than shooting at iso 200 on the 20D.  If you don't know what I'm talking about then this camera isn't for you :)  Check out the specs here.

Expect the 50D on shelves next month for probably around $1700 for the body, but wait a few months for this to start dropping.  Canon also announced a new lens to go with the new camera, an 18-200mm IS super zoom.  It looks cheap and plasticy, but will have convenience on its side I suppose.

We're back

Hi everyone

Just a quick note to let you know that Thea and I are back safe and sound in sunny (not) Wimbledon. The trip was fantastic, and we will hopefully have photos up by the end of the week.

Here's a quick taster of the photos to come - this is a sunset shot in Prague.


Now to get some sleep, because tomorrow I'm back to work... :(