Getting you up to speed

It's all very relaxing here in Lucerne. It has been snowing, which is just beautiful, as are the surrounding mountains.

You may have heard that we were hoping to go skiing/snowboarding, but due to insurance complications it's not possible. Oh well, we'll just have to wait until June! We've decided to go for cheese fondue instead.

Yesterday, we had a relaxing stroll around the city and saw an impressive carved lion statue.

Dan and I are currently in town making the most of the free Wi-Fi.

Earlier this morning we hunted down the world's largest rolling ball clock. It's fascinating to watch the balls spin and drop. You can check out a website with pics on how it was made here: www.kugelbahn.ch/bucherer.htm

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Before I head off, let me quickly fill you in on what we did in Freiburg.

We spent most of our time catching up with Jarvis. She was a fantastic host. It was great not to have to worry too much about the language barrier. And, she already knew the best places to eat and visit. (We sure did eat! I think I'm still full from the weekend!)

On the Saturday we wandered the local markets and climbed a tower with a fabulous view of the town. On the Sunday we had a massive buffet brekky before catching a train to Titisee. The lake was frozen over, just starting to thaw around the edges for spring. I'd never seen anything like it. Plus, we had our first Black Forest Cake (in the Black Forest!) and our first strudel. Then, we hunted through a few shops to find the most impressively hideous souvenir.

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Tomorrow we're heading back to Lyon in France. I'm kind of glad to be going back to somewhere that speaks French. Swiss-German is a confusing blend of all the languages we've encountered so far, so I'm never really sure what to say! I can't believe that we only have a week and a half left. How time flies!

Welcome. Thank you for joining us.

I've finally left Canberra and I'm 24 hours into my month-long break. I'm already feeling slightly greasy from eating nothing but yum cha, pizza and ice-cream.

But, I'm sure you're here to read about more exciting adventures than junk food in Sydney.

Dan and I are off to France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland... but not in that particular order.

Actually, I think it's more like France, Germany, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, France; but I could be wrong.

As I write, Dan is putting the finishing touches on our itinerary, and it's subject to change. We'll keep you posted.

As you can imagine, I've already discovered I've packed too much. (Who wants to traipse marketing textbooks half-way across the world?) But, at the other extreme, Dan has not started packing at all... with 16 hours, 14 minutes and 47 seconds until our plane is scheduled to fly out.

That's ok, I have faith that these types of dilemmas always sort themselves out. I think it's the fourth law of thermodynamics.

Internet facilities permitting, I am looking forward to reporting next from our stopover location: Abu Dhabi.