Notre Dame...

Our first day in Paris involved a beautiful stroll around the 3rd arrondisement (where we were staying, there are 16 in total numbered from the inside out) down to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was great to see all the boutique shops and local business, there is stark lack of commercialism compared with the USA. We finally made our way down to the Ile de Cite, an island in very middle of Paris with the Notre Dame and many other sites (you can see Fi standing on the marker for the very middle of Paris)! So here are some pics :)

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

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.

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

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

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!

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.