28th Feb - Top Fives

Gosh, I can't believe our amazing adventure is at an end, but our memories will live on. So many people have asked what we loved the most or felt wasn't worth seeing. I have to say it was very tough to comment. How do you compare the Guggenheim in Bilbao with the rugged beauty of the Abruzzo moutains in Italy? Anyway, here's our attempt.

Top Five Experiences

1. Alborg, Denmark – The amazing hospitality provided by Lone who didn’t even know us
2. Watching trashy UK and US TV on cable – especially ‘Pimp my Ride’ which was Tam’s favourite show
3. Doing the house swaps and feeling like we ‘lived’ in each of the cities
4. Driving in the Abruzzo Mountains (Italy) getting down to minus 14 degrees at 1270m above sea level with glorious blue skies on the way to Sulmona
5. Copenhagen, Denmark – enjoying the wonders of Culture Night and then attending the festivities the next morning to announce the birth of ‘Our Mary’s prince’.
6. Edinburgh Festival – seeing 12 comedy shows, 2 movies and the Military Tattoo in one week

Top Five Architectural Sites

1. Trier, Germany – Porta Negra
2. St Cirq Lapopie, France – Medieval town
3. Pompei, Italy – Ruins of Pompei
4. Abruzzo, Italy – Roccascalegna castle on a cliff edge
5. Mont St Michel, France – Abbey of St Michael

Top Five Food Experiences

1. Potsdam, Germany – Thai food
2. Berlin, Germany – Margaux Restaurant (the food presentation, taste and outstanding service)
3. Bordeaux, France – (dessert platter)
4. Street stalls – crepes around France with nutella, lemon, M&M’s and other strange ingredients
5. Venice, Italy - Mum paying AUS$100 for a roast chicken dish at Harry’s Bar

Top five villages/ cities

1. St Cirq Lapopie, France – Medieval town
2. Paris, France
3. Berlin, Germany
4. Venice, Italy
5. Caunes- Minervois, France

Top Five Unexpected Finds

1. Brantome, France

2. Trier, Germany

3. Utrecht, Netherlands

4. Bordeaux, France

5. Bremen, Germany

Top Five Modern Venues

1. Bilbao, Spain – Guggenheim Museum (Mark waited 5 yrs following our Spanish holiday and worth the wait)
2. Nimis, Sweden – strange drift wood sculpture up to five stories high
3. Paris, France – Georges Pompidou Centre (you can even take photos inside)
4. Billund, Denmark – Legoland (need we say more!)
5. Berlin, Germany – Jewish Holocaust Memorial (in sight of Brandenburg Gates and Parliament)

Well Mark's back at work and Tam's on the job hunt trail. Life in Melbourne is wonderful of course, but I'm sure in a few week's we'll be wanting to have more adventures!