More Ramadan photos...

An ambitious ship-building project successfully completed!

Look out Susannah, the space man has invaded the kitchen.

Ramadan at home...

It's a quiet time here during Ramadan, here are some pictures of how we are all keeping ourselves busy...


Johnathan relaxing at home.

Mum and Susie relaxing at home.

Johnathan and Susie on the newly cleaned trampoline (getting cooler now, can play outside again).

Dennis and JB swimming around.

We are now looking forward to Eid, a long weekend when we are heading to Oman. Can't wait!

Dolores' birthday

We celebrated Dolores' birthday this week with a special birthday dinner followed by birthday cake. As you can see, Dolores and the kids had a great time, Susannah could not wait to get stuck into the creamy black forest cake!

Johnathan's first day at school

After successfully graduating from pre-school last year, Johnathan is now back at school (a new one for this year, closer to home and our first choice when we arrived, the waiting lists can be long!) This picture is from his first day with Mum and Susannah there for support. He is loving it, he has a very nice scottish teacher and enjoys his PE and swimming classes.

Susannah has also started at a new nursery, there are still tears in the morning but she loves it - talks about it all the time!

Holiday in Sweden, Denmark and Germany

A late post about a fantastic two week holiday - a much needed escape from the Doha summer and a chance to catch up with many friends! 

Note, there is a lot of text here which is more for us to remember our trip by but also for you if you are interested, otherwise just check out the photos! 

Day One - Friday 8th August

Early afternoon departure from Copenhagen to Frankfurt. Flight mostly ok, Susannah slept, Johnathan watches Franklin the Turtle over and over again, Dave and Mon catch up on movies. Arrive in Frankfurt, possibly the worlds most inefficient airport (surprising for the Germans). No baggage trollies, five bags (including pram, cot, car seat etc), two kids - lots of fun. Overnight at airport hotel before onward journey to Denmark.

Day Two - Saturday 9th August

Up at the crack of dawn for 6:50am flight to Copenhagen. Frankfurt airport redeems itself by having fast track security for families. Short hop to Copenhagen, Johnathan gets a lego boat on the flight, Susannah gets a little picture book. When showing her a picture of a horse in the book, she is asked "what's that". Susannah responds, "mine"!

Arrive at airport and take the train to Sweden where we are staying in Malmo with our great friend Andrew (unfortunately his lovely wife Tanya was away so we did not get to see her). Have lunch, everyone falls asleep for a nap in the afternoon (Mon and Susannah in bed, Andrew on the couch, David and Johnathan on the living room floor). After a nice rest and checking out Andrew's flash new Mubito offices (http://www.mubito.com/ - free plug for Andrew to our devoted blog audience), we have a beer in lille torvet (the small square) and a grill back at home.

Day Three - Sunday 10th August

Off to Copenhagen on the train (first of many trips) to catch up with Jens, Maria, and their little daughter Johanna. A very nice lunch in their very nice newly renovated apartment in Vanlose. It was great to catch up, meet Johanna, and see Jens so relaxed after 3 months off work for parental leave.

Back to Malmo and dinner at an old favourite japanese restaurant (introduced to us by Pat), Izakaya Koi. Kids mostly well behaved, food fantastic. That evening, David defeats Andrew three nil in an exciting Yahtzee contest.

Day Four - Monday 11th August

A day in Malmo where we wandered over to check out Vastrahavn, the newly developed area in Malmo. Found a nice Pizza restaurant for lunch, then wandered back to Andrew's place for dinner.

Day Five - Tuesday 12th August

A late start to the day before setting off to Copenhagen again, ending up in Frederiksberg for lunch at another old favourite cafe. David then set off to buy a new camera...

Side note, there have been no photos in the blog so far as we forgot the camera. While packing for the holiday, Susannah was messing around with the camera so David put it on top of the study cabinet where it safely remained. Oddly, on the morning of departure, David spent about 15 minutes turning the house upside down to find the charger for the camera which was packed but the camera remained forgotten. It was, therefore, the perfect excuse to buy that digital SLR that had been under consideration for about four years!

Mon took the kids to Frederiksberg library children's area, another old hang out from the Copenhagen days.

After that, it was off to Yasmina and Martin's place for dinner. Johnathan and Susannah had a great time with Nikolai and Thomas (the new one we were meeting for the first time) and it was wonderful to catch up although a bit chaotic with the kids in full action. After that, "home" to Malmo where we had our last evening with Andrew as he was travelling to the Ukraine the following day to meet with Tanya. So, Andrew and David played another round of Yahtzee where Andrew settled the score with a sixes Yahtzee (and earned the right to be in the first picture taken with the new camera).

 

Day Six - Wednesday 13th August

A reasonably early start to the day and off to Copenhagen again. First stop was Osterbro where we went to another old favourite - Rosetta's for pizza for lunch. A walk past our old apartment then it was off to Tivoli for some fun.

  

  

 The kids had a wild time and it was great to experience the charm of Tivoli again. We bumped into Asger and Iris who live in our compound in Doha (it's a small world) before meeting with Jason and Janelle (and Miranda who has grown a lot considering she was only just born when we left Denmark) for dinner at Wagamamma's. A nice catch up and good to see they are enjoying life in Copenhagen. Then back on the train again to Malmo.

Day Seven - Thursday 14th August

Early start for David as he was off to Copenhagen to visit the old office, catch up with the latest goings on and old friends and colleagues. Meanwhile, Mon did some washing then went to Copenhagen for lunch where she met another Australian family in Magasin who new friends of ours who live in London - it is a very small world.

That evening, it was a trip on the train to Marjo and Allan's house for dinner with them (and their kids Niklas and Sara) and Beenu and Neeraj (and their son Dhruv). Another great evening but all too short.

Back on the train again to Malmo.

Day Eight - Friday 15th August

After packing our bags in the morning, we are back on the train to Copenhagen. An emergency stop at Copenhagen airport as Susannah is suddenly hungry - we eat at Burger King as it is the only convenient option and regret it immediately.

 

Continue the journey to Copenhagen where we again find ourselves in Frederiksberg. We get some supplies at our old Fotex supermarket where we are reminded just how rubbish Danish supermarkets are. Then it is off to Frederiksberg Have (Garden) to feed the ducks and check out the new Norman Foster designed elephant enclosure at the Zoo - it is fantastic.

  

Johnathan steps in dog pooh while searching in the forest for the gruffalo.

After that, we go to Bernadette and Per's for dinner (along with their daughters Isabella and Mille and Bernie's parents). A beautiful evening sitting in the garden and catching up while the kids go crazy on the lawn.

  

Then it's a bus and train back to Malmo for our last night.

Day Nine - Saturday 16th August

Relatively early start to get to the airport for flight to Frankfurt. All goes well but Frankfurt airport once again lets us down - a long, long wait for baggage and picking up a rental car is like solving a puzzle. We were pleased to be upgraded to a nice BMW 320d station wagon - a very swish car with a slightly illogical navigation system!

A straightforward drive to Losnich in the Moselle valley where we discovered that Mon had found the perfect accommodation. A beautiful apartment on the banks of the river with a huge expanse of lawn dotted with apple trees and a playground at the bottom of the garden, paradise for kids and hence paradise for parents! The apartment looked out over the river to the vines on the hill, truly a beautiful setting.

  

  

A little later in the afternoon, our friends Dave and Jay (and kids Amalie and Rafferty) arrived after their drive from London. We enjoyed a catch up that evening over a bbq dinner and sampling some of the local wine.

Day 10 - Sunday 17th August

A slightly late start for us meant we were a bit behind Dave and Jay and following a bit of mix up in the plans and a mobile phone switched to silent - we ended up in Trier while Dave and Jay were in Berkastel-Kues. Upon our arrival in Trier, David noticed a large proportion of Subaru WRX's in the underground car park - a little odd but perhaps just a popular car in this part of Germany. Immediately after exiting the car park, it was discovered the World Rally Championship was in town - great if you are in Trier to see rally cars but not so great if you are there to sight see!

So, after a phone call to Dave and Jay who had discovered a wine festival back in Bernkastel Kues, we were back on the autobahn to catch up with them for lunch. A very nice afternoon sampling some of the local produce.

  

  

  

Day 11 - Monday 18th August

Today was a quiet day staying close to the house. There was a cellar full of bicycles for our use so we all hit the bike paths along the Moselle. Johnathan nearly ended up in the river when he went shooting off down the hill with no idea how to stop the bike, eventually he fell off on the grass near the river bank and got up with a giggle and said to his terrified dad, "was I going fast?"  There was also a giant chess set which kept the kids amused for hours, they loved rolling the pieces down the hill.

  

Day 12 - Tuesday 19th August

A quick drive over to the town of Bingen for a cruise on the Rhine between Bingen and St Goar and back past the famous Lorelei rocks, at the narrowest and more dangerous stretches of the river. The quick stop in St Goar allowed just enough time for a trip up the hill in the tourist train to the ruins of Burg Rheinfels, at one time the mightiest fortress on the Rhine. Johnathan was fascinated by the swords on display and the chains where the "bad guys" used to be tied up. It was then back to Bingen on the boat and a drive home to Losnich.

  

Day 13 - Wednesday 20th August

In the morning, Mon had a conference call for work so David took the kids for a ride on the bikes. The trip out was great, but the trip back took a long time, Johnathan needed some convincing to keep going to get home. We then met Dave and Jay at a fantastic restaurant about five minutes from Losnich on the other side of the river - the food, beer, and wine were all great. After that, a drive along the river took us to Cochem, a beautiful town. We took the Sesselbahn (chair lift) up to the top of the hill for some great views then headed back down for dinner and the drive home to Losnich.

  

Day 14 - Thursday 21st August

We decided to go to Luxembourg as it was only around an hour and a half away, Dave and Jay stuck to the Moselle area for the day as they were heading to Luxembourg the next day as part of their drive towards home. Luxembourg is a beautiful city - we went to the natural history museum which Johnathan enjoyed and just walked around and enjoyed the sights. The drive back to Losnich was plagued with some traffic on the autobahns but David was very pleased to reach 200km/hr to make up some time (and Dave H was very jealous of this achievement). That night, another BBQ at home and a few drinks and drunken phone calls to Paul and Lou to congratulate them on the arrival of Oliver.

  

Day 15 - Friday 22nd August

Time to say goodbye to Dave, Jay, Amalie, and Raffie and to the Moselle. Off to the airport and the flight home - Susannah would not sleep so there was a lot of walking up and down the aisle of the plane with her. A late arrival in Doha but home with the kids in bed by midnight - fortunately they slept in the next day...

All up - a brilliant holiday. We would definately recommend the Moselle as a holiday destination. We drank more reisling in that week than we had in total before then and really came to appreciate it. We also appreciated the german cuisine and its emphasis on pork - a rare treat for us these days. Also great to catch up with so many friends but disappointed we could not catch up with everyone, time was too short.