Exciting news!

I got home 2 nights ago to find a letter waiting for me from the Alliance Francaise. When I opened it I realised that it was the confirmation letter for my Paris stay with the name and address of the people I am staying with! I immediately jumped online and found out as much as I could about the place.

I am staying in the 15eme arrondissement which is about 2.5km south of the Eiffel Tower and about 5km south west of the Notre Dame. While not absolutely central, I'm still over the moon because I will be staying away from the tourist spots and in a quartier that is much more 'real' when it comes to Parisian lifestyle.

Here is where I'll be staying... (click for a bigger version)

I'll be in the Quartier Grenelle, about 200m from the Seine. And I'll be studying in the 6eme arrondissement, next to Jardins du Luxemburg (bottom middle of the map).

Experimenting...

Ok so today I decided to have a little test run with the new camera and see what happens. The result? I think I need to read the manual a little more!

I did manage to have a nice day wandering around the Adelaide Hills and got some kind of nice shots. Here are a few...

It begins

Ok, so I'm not actually in Europe yet, and yeah, it is still more than 3 months before I leave, but I figured I should give it a test run before I go! I also thought that I should maybe document some of the lead up to my leaving on the biggest trip of my life so far (don't worry, I'll tone down the dramatics soon, I'm just experimenting;p).

I should just make a note here about the title of my blog. I looked up the official meaning of 'Rambling' and here is what I found:

ram·ble ram·bled,ram·bles
1. To move about aimlessly.
2. To walk about casually or for pleasure.
3. To follow an irregularly winding course of motion or growth.
4. To speak or write at length and with many digressions.

n. A leisurely, sometimes lengthy walk.

I thought this was really fitting actually! Especially point 3. The whole objective for this trip is to wander around particularly France and some of Italy, and just find stuff. I'm just curious I suppose. Not to say that I haven't recently purchased every Lonely Planet guide ever published, because I now have an impressive collection. However, I am planning on deciding where I'll head to next a day or so (or less) before I leave. Anyway, enough RAMBLING (see point 4), I should leave this post here.

Testing, testing, testing!

P.S. I wanted to add a couple of photos from a great friend's wedding 2 weeks ago. Here you go Rinnie!




















In the church...
















Sarah, Anne, Me, Carrie and Ann - how hot are we?!