Cesky Krumlov

First layout done with Club Scrap Renaissance kit. The journaling note is hand made. The 'C' & 'K' are stickers. The rest of the words are hand written. Second layout uses printed paper from K & Co. Sticker in the circle is from Club Scrap. Title is again hand written and I made a hash of it. However since that little green card stock was my last bit I had to use it. The outlines are done with a gold-leaf marker from Krylon. Printed papers on the third layout is from 7 Gypsies. Title is hand written. Also some 'antique' rub-ons.

On our fifth day we woke early and boarded the bus. Today we would be leaving Austria and crossing the border into the Czech Republic. The fact that Austria is a pretty well-to-do country and it's neighbour is much poorer is underlined by the drastic change in scenery as soon as one crosses the border.

In the Czech Republic we stopped at a medieval town, beautifully preserved, called Cesky Krumlov. This is a UNESCO world heritage site and deservedly so. It is like being transported back in time! As I craned my head back to look at the fortress it took my breath away. Inside the town is quaint and we walked around with our guide Olly. She was the best guide yet on this trip and is even mentioned in the Rick Stevens guide book! I wish we had more time to explore but after a quick lunch of sandwiches and visiting the bears in the bear pit, we had to get back in the bus to continue towards Prague, the last Imperial City on our itinerary.

Salzburg (1)

Layouts done with papers from Basic Grey, Scenic Route. All from kits by Scrapologie.

At Melk we got back on the bus and drove to Salzburg. On the way, nestled in the beautiful countryside, I caught a glimpse of the church where Captain Von Trapp and Maria were married in the Sound of Music. The countryside is so beautiful! Just like in the Sound of Music – which is the movie we watched on the long drive there. After arriving into Salzburg we went for a stroll in the Mirabell Gardens, also featured in the Sound of Music – specifically in the song Doe a Deer. There is a part in this garden that has statues of midgets. Apparently the prince, who the gardens belonged to, employed midgets in his palace. And when they died he had a statue built in their remembrance in his garden.

Dinner that evening was at St. Peter’s, a restaurant, supposedly the oldest in Europe, established in 803. The lower parts of the restaurant are so fascinating – really old. We however were seated in a room on the third floor which was decidedly modern – at least compared to the rest of the establishment. A pity, that! The highlight of the dinner was a little Mozart who played for us. We thought it was a boy but later found out he was actually a ‘she’. She played for almost fifteen minutes completely from memory. Quite a feat! The food was good too. We walked back to the hotel through the shopping district and again the Mirabell Gardens, which were just outside our hotel.

Next day we started with an early morning walk around Salzburg. We strolled from the hotel through the new town and across one of the pedestrian bridges towards the old part of town. Basically we just retraced our steps back to the place where the St. Peter’s restaurant is. The old side of town is so pretty and we saw it much better in daylight – quaint streets, pretty squares all imbued with feeling of having stepped back in time. We went to see the Dome of Salzburg. This church was completely destroyed by Allied bombing during WWII. It has now been rebuilt most beautifully.

Cruise on the Danube

First layout done with Club Scrap 'Sunken Treasure' kit & glitter chipboard letters from DCWV. Second layout uses paper from the KI Memories.

After our shopping spree in the beautiful town of Durnstein we took a three hour cruise on the Danube. What beautiful countryside we saw! There were castles towering over us from craggy cliffs. One of the ruins belonged to a family of robber barons. For over a thousand years this family attacked and stole from people passing on the river. Even today, as you pass under the castle you get the ominous feeling of being watched! There is another castle that shows distinct Turkish influence with a minaret and onion shaped domes. All these castles gave me a feeling of being in some historical romantic novel!

We had our lunch on the boat. It was extremely pleasant sipping chilled Riesling and meandering past the countryside where the wine is made. We disembarked at Melk, famous for its Abbey, which is an important seat of learning even today. The Abbey gained worldwide fame when Umberto Eco based his novel 'Nome Della Rosa' here. Unfortunately we did not have time to visit the Abbey becuase we had a bus to catch - to Salzburg!

For a friend's journal

Page done with Club Scrap 'To you with Love' kit papers. Calla Lily stamp from PSX.

Durnstein (2)

Again layout done with Club Scrap 'Road Trip' kit and 'Thickers' alphabets. For journaling please see previous post.

Durnstein

Both layouts done with Club Scrap Road Trip kit. Making Memories alpha stamps, acrylic inks, a few rub-ons etc. complete these very simple layouts.

Our visit to Vienna was over.

We had an early breakfast and by 8 am were rolling off in the bus towards Durnstein. This mediaeval village, about 45 minutes from Vienna, is famous because in 1193 duke Leopold of Austria captured Richard I (the Lionhearted) who was returning from the Crusades. He held Richard at the castle of Durnstein for over a year. A ransom of 150,000 marks (a huge amount in those days) was paid to free Richard.

We also heard a very romantic story of how Richard was found by his minstrel, singing outside various castles and hoping to hear a response, indicating the presence of his king. This part of the story is surely folklore!

The castle is now in ruins but still identifiable. The village is pretty and a regular tourist attraction. It is small and lined with quaint shops. We did our entire gift shopping here.

Vienna third day (2)

On our third day in Vienna we had the afternoon to ourselves. So we walked to St. Stephanplatz to see the church. Known as Stephansdom, it is the soul of the city itself. The giant doorway and the twin towers at the entrance are apparently from a 13th century heathen Romanesque shrine. The tiled roof of the church is very eye catching as is the steffl or spire, which is an important landmark in Vienna, towering over all nearby buildings. Once inside, I made it a point to search out the self portrait of Anton Pilgram, the master craftsman of the present church. Pilgrams pulpit, with its intricate gothic design and beautiful carved stairway is another stellar work not to be missed inside the church. The high altar, of course, is most impressive as is the Wiener Neustader altar, commissioned by Friedrich III in 1447.

The children then wanted ice cream. So we stopped at an ice cream store and paid outrageous prices for gelato. I managed to get pick pocketed ~ fortunately I lost only my mobile phone.

We decided to take a buggy ride around the town of Vienna. This is becoming quite a tradition for us! It cost us 65 Euro for a 40 minute ride. Getting off the buggy in front of the Hofburg palace we walked towards a multi ethnic food festival we had seen on our ride. This took us through some beautiful rose gardens which have hundreds of varieties of roses. The food festival was not bad at all with rows upon rows of stalls. Everything from Indian to Thai to Mexican was available. The only problem was the table we found – it was so close to a fountain that we shivered all through dinner! A brisk walk back to the hotel soon set us right and ready to pack to leave Vienna the next day.

Vienna Third Day (1)

Layouts done with a mixture of Club Scrap Travel, Painted Desert and printed papers by Elsie. Chipboard alphabets, coloured brads, stickers & paper lace from my stash.

On the morning of our third day in Vienna, we met up at 8 am with our local guide, Irene, for a 2 hour walk through the city. She showed us some interesting spots including a few of Mozart’s many homes. In the 10 years he spent in Vienna, he changed residences 13 times. He died quite possibly of rheumatic fever at the age of 35.

At about 10:30 we took the bus from our hotel and drove 45 minutes to Festschloss Hof, the country home of the Hapsburg Dynasty, originally built by Prince Eugene of Savoy. This palace, on the border with Slovenia (we could see the suburbs of Bratislava from the castle) has been recently reopened to the public after many years where it was first ravaged by the military and then by time and neglect. Restoration work is still continuing and the Austrian Government is trying to locate and return many of the missing artwork from the palace.

The palace originally had just two floors. When Empress Maria Teresia came to live there she found it a bit small so she added a third floor. There is however a painting done of the palace as it was originally built by Prince Eugene and I took a photograph of that because it appears so much more elegant and graceful with just the two stories.

The children went off to make pottery while a lovely lady called Maria gave us a tour of the palace, explaining its sad history and the efforts being made now to restore it to its former glory. The gardens are almost complete and they are a sight to behold indeed! We had lunch on the palace grounds after which the children went to the petting zoo while we did went off for a Schnapps tasting. Later we all enjoyed a horse & buggy ride around the extensive palace grounds. We learned of the existence of blue eyed donkeys and European bison. In days gone by children in Austria kept donkeys as pets instead of dogs & cats. The horses pulling our buggy were of a special breed too, really big boned, tough and shaggy.

I got some very nice photos of Lily getting to know one of these horses. They are beautiful gentle creatures!

Do you You Tube?

I have not been able to scrap lately. But this information was too good to hold on to till I do my next page. So check this out ...

Vienna Second Day (5)

First layout done with Club Scrap All that Glitters kit, a photo turn, Gelatins alpha stamps and ribbon from my stash. Second layout is done with a kit from Scrapologie. Again Gelatin alpha stamps and chipboard accents. Third layout done with Crate paper. All three layouts inspired by some lovely work in the current CK.

What a wonderful way to finish this very special day in Vienna. After we had rested for a few hours a bus picked us up from our hotel and took us back to Schonbrunn. We did not enter the palace grounds from the main entrance but from a side gate. It was the palace zoo. Founded by Franz Stephan in 1752, this is the oldest zoo in the world. We arrived there at 6 p.m. which was closing time. So we had the whole zoo to ourselves.

A couple of the zoo keepers gave us a tour of the animals. I was keen on seeing the lions but lazy beasts that they are, they were all sleeping inside. What we did see was a cheetah. I have never seen one in captivity before. Amazing how healthy it was. The zoo had all sorts of contraptions to help simulate a chase and kill so the cheetah would be able to get the exercise it needs. Unlike the tigers and lions, these cats are not the lazy kind! What was really scary was how the cheetah kept following the smallest child in our group. The barriers between the animals and people are see-through and to watch the cheetah focus on a little child and get ready to leap was definitely unnerving!

Later we all met up at the Emperor’s Pavilion which is a beautiful structure in the centre of the zoo. Emperor Franz Josef used to stroll from the palace to this pavilion every morning for breakfast. We had dinner instead. And a very nice dinner it was too.

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A Modern day Da Vinci genius!

Vienna Second Day (4)

First layout made with Club Scrap Passage of Time kit from Jan 2001. Alphabet stamps and fresh cuts. Second layout is done with Carolee's papers. The swirl is handmade. Ribbon and a flower brad - not sure who makes these.

First layout is Ricky at the Authentic Austrian restaurant we had lunch at. In Austria Ricky was in food heaven! Meat, sausages and potatoes? He wishes he could eat these everyday - unfortunately his mother makes him eat other stuff like vegetables and pasta and rice. He stepped out of the restaurant to check out the surroundings. There was farm next to the restaurant. After lunch all the children went to pet the animals. Ricky preferred to stay outside and play his PSP.

Second layout are the Marionette Theatre photo for Lily's album. And a photo of what she seems to be doing perpetually these days - texting!

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French Toast - Do you really know how to make it?

Vienna Second Day (3)

All layouts done with Club Scrap Travels kit. Also used chipboard accents, scenic Route rub-on alphabets, 7 Gypsies journalling tags, French Curves and other stickers and rub-ons from my stash. You can read about the Gloriette in last bit of the journalling for Vienna Day 2.

Who let the dogs out?

Vienna Second Day (2)

First layout done with Club Scrap Culinary Kit and some alpha stickers. Second layout uses paper from 7Gypsies and American Crafts. Both from a kit by Scrapologie.

The first layout is of Lily at the Imperial Bakery, helping to make the strudel. The second layout is of Ricky trying out a marionette. I had to journal what he did just after the photographs: He is not fond of puppets. But I really wanted him to see how they worked so I coaxed him into trying it. And just after I had finished taking the photographs, he threw the marionette on the floor and stomped off! Oh, the embarrassment! The lady was so angry! Try explaining to her what his problem was ... He did apologise later but I am only glad that nothing happened to the puppet except some very entangled strings!

Vienna - Second Day (1)

First layout done with Club Scrap Tuscany kit. Second layout done with Club Scrap Autumn Splendour kit. Third layout done with printed paper from 7 Gypsies. Also used rub-ons, various swirly stamps, acrylic paints, Stayz on inks, vellum, QK alphas, MM alpha stamps & MM metal moulded edging. I tried to follow the famous yellow of the Schonbrunn Palace on the layouts as well.

We left very early in the morning to see the Schonbrunn Palace and grounds. The children went off to try on some old fashioned costumes and have some fun while the adults got a guided tour of the Royal Apartments of Empress Maria Teresia. Now these are what I call ‘royal’ apartments. They were so … Regal! The ‘Blue or Porcelain Room’ was my favourite. And the ‘Million’ room with Indian paintings and gold leafing is exceptional. This particular room is now valued at 60 to 70 million dollars. No photography was allowed so I had to buy a guide book. This rule is good for palace business!

From there we went to see the Royal bakery to see how Apple Strudel was made with an age old recipe. Lily got to be an assistant and help out in doing strange things to the dough. We were then served a slice of strudel with coffee ~ a great mid morning snack.

Our next stop was the marionette theatre. This is so beautiful that one has to see it to believe the effects that can be achieved. One really is absorbed into a make believe fantasy world and when the show finished, exiting the theatre is something of a shock. We went back stage to see how it all worked. I was surprised at how small the puppets were. They looked life size when on stage. Some kind of optical illusion the theatre is very proud of.

We then got into a funny little yellow/green train called Der Schonbrunner. It took us all the way to near the Gloriette. We had lunch at a very Tyrolean style restaurant. Authentic Austrian they said but I did not like my Wiener Schintzel too much. After lunch we went to see some animals in the farm below the restaurant and try out some great cheese. The man selling the cheese was a very Authentic Tyrolean crusty old mountain farmer.

Next we walked to the Gloriette, which was 3 minutes from the restaurant. The views of the city from there are great. And if I heard our guide correctly (I just wish she has spoken louder or used a microphone ~ I had to strain to hear every word), the Gloriette sits on Maria Teresia’s huge refrigerator. The mountain under the Gloriette has been bored deep into and it is very cool in the caves there. The Empress used to take pleasure in serving delicacies made in her refrigerator ~ like sorbet in summer. I could just imagine her servants running from the Gloriette to the Palace with the sorbet before it melted completely. It is by no means a short distance!

Vienna - First day (2)

First layout done with CS World Travel kit. Second layout with CS Journeys kit. And third layout done with a Scrapologie kit. I have also used Art Warehouse stickers, some metallic stickers, Fresh Cuts, assorted stickers and that fancy stapler (forget the name).

Dinner was a buffet at a nice restaurant in the hotel itself. There were about forty people in the tour group. We played a fun little ‘getting to know everyone’ game where you had to ask people if they had done things like take a cruise or ridden a horse buggy etc. A well thought out list of everything related to the experiences we were going to have over the next few days. Then we went through the usual introductions and telling everyone why we had chosen this particular tour company and so on. And I wonder why every time I get picked to do the public speaking in our family!

Our two families were a bit rushed with our dinner because earlier in the day, while we were walking around the city, we bought tickets to an Operatic sampler of Viennese music & dance that started at eight. We did not want to miss it! Finding the place where our show was being held turned out to be quite an endeavour. We walked around a few blocks and finally ended up quite close to the hotel.

The place was Beethovenhaus and is one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen. It is now a school for the arts. The building has a courtyard on the inside with ivy growing all over. I just had to lean out of the window and snap a few photos of the ivy. This is on the third floor so imagine how long the ivy has been growing to get so thick so high up!
The show was geared to entertain tourists. I am sure true cognoscenti of Viennese opera would look down their noses at these shows. But we loved every minute of it! We were tourists after all. One singer was an amazing look-alike of Robert Redford. I am thinking that is why he got the job because his singing was mediocre at best. And Joe managed to catch the cork they threw into the audience so I got myself a free glass of champagne during intermission.

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Vienna - Our first day

From today I am starting to scrap our summer holiday photos. I will be working 3 albums simultaneously. So I will be posting 3 layouts every time. The photos in the layouts will be mostly similar, with some differences depending on whose album it is. The journalling will be identical on all 3 layouts. And I am going to try and fit as many photos as I can on each layout! This is what you can expect from me over the next few weeks till I am finished with the holiday photographs.

First layout done with CS World Travel kit. Second layout with CS Journeys kit. And third layout done with a Scrapologie kit. I have also used Art Warehouse stickers, some metallic stickers, BG Rub ons, chipboard accents and iridescent acrylic paints.

2^nd August 2007: After a really interesting and fun overnight train ride (sleeper coaches were a first for everyone except me), from Milano to Vienna Sudbanhof, we met up with the Singh family in the lobby of the Vienna Marriott. After unpacking we walked to the Opera House but were 4 minutes too late for the 11 am tour! If only Ricky had listened to Mini and not walked around the Opera House… so we continued towards the Hofburg Complex to try and kill one hour and make the next tour. We stopped on the way for a photo with Goethe's statue. At the Hofburg complex we went in to see the butterfly house. It is small but extremely pretty. If you like nature, it is definitely worth a visit.

We then returned to the Opera House and met up with the Singh’s for the 12 am tour. Some parts of the Opera House are very grand but other parts, destroyed during WWII and rebuilt later, are more modern and linear. I really liked how they took us back stage so we could see it from the perspective of the actors.

We had lunch at the Sacher Hotel with the mandatory Sacher Torte for dessert. Then we walked back to the Hofburg complex to see the Kaiser Apartments & the Sisi Museum. I was expecting more grandeur in the apartments but apparently neither Emperor Franz Josef nor his Empress Elizabeth (or Sisi, as she was affectionately called) had very flamboyant tastes. What was singular was the exercise room and equipment the Empress Sisi had. She was figure conscious and worked out daily to maintain her waistline. Quite unheard of in those days!

After seeing these two venues we were all so tired we could hardly drag our feet! So we left the Singh’s to see the Imperial Treasury and returned to the hotel. After naps and showers, we went down for our ‘Welcome’ dinner and to meet the other families joining us on this tour of the Imperial cities of Vienna, Salzburg & Prague.

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forced absence ....

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It has happened ... my PC has crashed. It had been threatening for a while now. Some hardware that I installed a while back did not seem to work well and was making everything go wonky. And finally now it will not start up any more.

So I have to take a forced break from updating this blog.

Ahh ... grrrrr!! >:-(

Update: It seems to have revived itself somehow. The workings of this machine are beyond me ... LOL! Let us see how long it lasts this time.

Uncharted Territory

First layout done with a Club Scrap Retreat kit . Also swirly stamps, rub on title, 7 Gypsies gaffer tape, a square brad & a metal rimmed tag. This is Christmas of 1999 but these photographs remind me of a very difficult time we went through with Ricky. We had found out about his Autism and ADHD in mid 1998. 'Early Intervention' was the key word. Yet everywhere I turned, I found no immediate help. Special needs schools were all full. Therapists had waiting lists. It was extremely frustrating. And scary. So we decided that while we waited for an opening somewhere, we would not just sit around. The internet was a starting point. Then came books. We travelled to different parts of the globe to attend courses on how we could help Ricky. But mostly I think that everything we did this year helped us, as parents to adjust to and understand Ricky's special needs and be supportive of all the therapies and classes that would come later.

Layout copied from one in CK magazine. A little bit of stitching, some chipboard accents, Gel.a.tin alpha stamps & alpha stickers complete this simple layout. Ricky at a friends birthday. Curran's dad used to work in the F&B industry. So they were able to rent out a night club, but during lunch hour for the party. Everything was great except for the dark ambience and the bar with its flashing 'cocktail' sign. So I drew a moustache on Ricky and took a photo at the bar ... lol!

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How's this for putting everything in perspective?

Seven

First layout done with Club Scrap Aromatherapy kit, rub-on alphas and little flower stickers. Design copied from a CK magazine. This is Lily's birthday but the layout is for my album. I worked my backside off organising this little tea party for DD & her friends. And all the little girls looked so sweet ~ just like little dolls. Usually they are always in jeans.

Second layout done with a kit from Scrapologie. Layout is for my BOM. These photos are from my grad school (I think that is the US term? Correct me if I am wrong) I was about 16 or 17 and we called it college. We used to have a lot of fun organising entertainment for the whole college. And invariably I would get picked to participate in the 'Fashion Show' Mind you we did not have any real clothes labels. We would beg & borrow clothes from everywhere and model what we could find ... lol! Which I think should be a good enough excuse for the outfit I am wearing in the lower photos!!! Now I cringe when I see the granny look but it all was so much fun back then!

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That thing you do

I have been taking time off from scrapbooking ... actually I was so caught up in a book that I simply could not put it down. After seeing a video about a lot of fuss about this book, I decided to read it. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I absolutely loved the book! I think it is very relevant too, especially when I see folks trying to ban books. Imagine: Banning a book that tells a story about the total banning of books! I am now reading the White Mughals by William Dalrymple - this will take a while since it is pretty thick. But I am already enjoying it so much! very different genre, of course.

Anyway, today the layout is done with cardstock from Club Scrap Nautical kit. The flower stamp is from another CS kit. The title is a rub on from DCWV. Rhinestone brads & swirly stamps. And vellum from my super old stash.

Lily was a sweet kid ~ most of the time. But she could be stubborn. And this is her 'stubborn' look - chin jutting out, eyes staring, almost glaring, and slightly crossed. When I saw this look I knew that my work would be cut out for me.

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Waterbed Prank