Friday, March 4, 2011

In Paris


Hi all. We made it to paris!

We have limited internet access (and the keyboards are crazy) so i, must be brief.

We are having alot of fun and hope to post more pics and update soon.

with love,

phil and fi

Thursday, March 3, 2011

LA and London

So in the past few days we have passed through Spokane, Portland, Las Vegas, LA and now London. Needless to say - we are very tired and very jetlagged! Just trying to stay awake so we can re-set ou body clocks to European timezones.

Portland and Vegas were like "coach" stops on the plane we flew out of Spokane. LA was an overnight stop at a chain hotel.

Now London is crashing some friends from Sydney's floor for the night before heading to Paris on the train tomorrow. It will be fun to see them - and hope to see them a little more when we finish up in London in April. Yes it is like 4 days of being in transit. We are sleep deprived, hungry and uncomfortable. Cannot wait to arrive at our little French apartment stay and start this actual holiday!

So here are a few observations:

1. LA is very smoggy.
2. London is very diverse. The buildings are very old. There are no lifts for the underground which is a pain when you are carying four large bags between two people.

Anyways, that is probably enough jet-lagged rambling for today.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Good bye Spokane!!

It has been a big, busy, stressful and sad week for us. We packed up our little apartment, moved all our things, cleaned it up, packed our bags and left Spokane. It was always our plan to live there for nine months - working and getting to know Phil's family better and then head off on a big voyage. It was much harder to leave than we thought! We made brilliant friends here and we are going to miss them all so very much. People have asked us what we have learnt living here in the USA - here are a few thoughts:

1. So to start a little deep - we have learnt that this life and world are temporary. We knew we were only here for a brief time and this shaped all the things we did. So we made the most of the opportunities before us. We dove straight into friendships and ministries because we knew the time is short. In many ways this is but a small reflection of how life is - we are in this world for a short time and must make the most of it!

2. We love community - the people of Spokane and especially our church showered us in so much love and acceptance. We hope that we might be able to bring this open welcomeness back to Sydney too.

3. American food ain't all bad - see Rusty's ribs below!

Anyways, we have made our good bye to Spokane. thanks to the CTR crew for our farewell. We love you all. Thanks to Phil's family for loving us. We will miss you.

Please be praying for us on our journeys - hope to post pictures and updates often! We head to London tomorrow arriving on Thursday and off the Paris on Friday...



Phil, Russ and ribs...

Lucy, Lisa and Fi... lovely


The last of the party!

Family farewell at the airport
Posted by Picasa

Monday, February 7, 2011

Europe for Phil and Fi

Hi All,

This is our current itinerary. Let us know if you have any recommendations or tips on places to see, eat, etc...

We are looking forward to blogging the trip as we go. So keep posted!

PS. Sorry about the poor formatting - adding tables is kind of hard...

Date

Night over In

Monday, 28 Feb

Spokane

Tuesday, 01 Mar

LA

Wednesday, 02 Mar

Flight

Thursday, 03 Mar

London

Friday, 04 Mar

Paris

Saturday, 05 Mar

Paris

Sunday, 06 Mar

Paris

Monday, 07 Mar

Paris

Tuesday, 08 Mar

Paris

Wednesday, 09 Mar

Paris

Thursday, 10 Mar

Paris

Friday, 11 Mar

?

Saturday, 12 Mar

Bordeaux

Sunday, 13 Mar

Bordeaux

Monday, 14 Mar

Bordeaux

Tuesday, 15 Mar

Dordogne

Wednesday, 16 Mar

Dordogne

Thursday, 17 Mar

Carcassonne

Friday, 18 Mar

Carcassonne

Saturday, 19 Mar

Carcassonne

Sunday, 20 Mar

Avignon

Monday, 21 Mar

Avignon

Tuesday, 22 Mar

Avignon

Wednesday, 23 Mar

Avignon

Thursday, 24 Mar

Visan

Friday, 25 Mar

Visan

Saturday, 26 Mar

?

Sunday, 27 Mar

?

Monday, 28 Mar

Verdun

Tuesday, 29 Mar

Verdun

Wednesday, 30 Mar

Canterbury

Thursday, 31 Mar

Cambridge

Friday, 01 Apr

York

Saturday, 02 Apr

York

Sunday, 03 Apr

Glasgow

Monday, 04 Apr

Glasgow

Tuesday, 05 Apr

Glasgow

Wednesday, 06 Apr

Edinburgh / Lake District?

Thursday, 07 Apr

Edinburgh / Lake District?

Friday, 08 Apr

Manchester

Saturday, 09 Apr

Manchester

Sunday, 10 Apr

Wales?

Monday, 11 Apr

Wales?

Tuesday, 12 Apr

Bath

Wednesday, 13 Apr

Bath

Thursday, 14 Apr

South

Friday, 15 Apr

South

Saturday, 16 Apr

London

Sunday, 17 Apr

London

Monday, 18 Apr

London

Tuesday, 19 Apr

London

Wednesday, 20 Apr

London

Thursday, 21 Apr

Plane

Friday, 22 Apr

Hong Kong

Saturday, 23 Apr

Hong Kong

Sunday, 24 Apr

Hong Kong

Monday, 25 Apr

Hong Kong

Tuesday, 26 Apr

Flight

Wednesday, 27 Apr

Sydney


Saturday, February 5, 2011

Deery me!

Whilst walking on the Little Spokane River, we came across a few deer enjoying the sun. After stalking them up a hill we shot some! Fortunately you can enjoy the results too!




Posted by Picasa

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Why Spokane Exists!

Today we saw the might Spokane river in full force; this is why Spokane was ever settled. When the west was won electricity, lumber and trade where the go, and the Spokane river was able to provide all three. The geography of the river made it easy to capture its full force; in the end Spokane had electric street lights before the much maturer city of San Fransisco all thanks to this small but might river.




Posted by Picasa

Thursday, January 6, 2011