Leica- Expired

When I was given the Leica camera I was given a pile of film and most of it was expired. I decided to give a roll a go and big surprise, it did effect the quality. The photos turned out grainy and really lack in giving shadow and depth. But some people are into grainy shots, so here's to you. These shots are taking throughout Eastern Europe at the end of last year. Not sure if I will use the rest of these expired rolls, so if you want some, let me know.
-morgan

Istanbul, Turkey

After 7 days here in Istanbul (not including the 2 we had before we went to Olympos) we figure its time to share some of our experiences of the city so far. Since our first day we arrived and had our coffees paid for by a random old man in a little coffee house, we have been overwhelmed by the beauty and kindness of the Turkish people. Istanbul is a massive city with 13.5 million people (there is 22 million in all of Australia!) so there is always something going on. The city is spread over 2 continents, Europe and Asia, and most of our time has been spent on the Europe side.
We have enjoyed the change in culture, from waking up at 5.30am to the first light call to prayer from the Mosque next door to haggling with vendors everywhere, but especially the change in food. We have made good use of the street side food venders enjoying bagels, fresh squeezed orange and pomegranate juice, rice, honey churos, corn and doner kebabs all for 1 or 2 lira (50c-$1). I have loved the tea culture and the beautiful rituals of drinking tea throughout the day, once even served tea in the park. Morgan's mustache is always a favourite with the men on the streets who stop to comment or laugh and point as we walk on past. Today the men yelled out "famous man" as we passed a shop near our hotel which we pass most days.
We have explored the bazaar's and flea markets, rode the ferry to the princes' islands, admired the beautiful tiles and architecture, and taken so many photos on film.
-kim

Olympos, Turkey

It's a long 15 hour bus drive to get from Istanbul to Olympos, but it was well worth the journey. Olympos is an old ancient city (now in ruins dated from around 7AD) on the Mediterranean Sea in the south of Turkey, which has become a getaway for Turkish tourists. There is maybe 20 wooden treehut style hostels set up just outside the ruins, an area which is very busy in summer, but beautiful and quiet at this time of the year. We had a relaxing 5 days climbing mountains, exploring the ruins, reading books, playing backgammon and even swam in the sea. It's a beautiful area with lots of natural delights. We visited Yanartaş, a natural phenomenon of flames burning out of gaps in the rocks, and were blessed to share a BBQ sausage with a Turkish family cooking lunch on the ancient eternal flames. Now we are back in Istanbul, and ready to explore the city side of Turkey.
-kim

The epic woolen adventure

Well, we now take a break from a current series of our Eastern European adventure, to bring you a story. This is the story of how I learnt to knit. You see when we left Australia last year, one of the things I wanted to achieve for 2012 was to learn to knit. Before we head off to Spain and Portugal back in Feburary, Morgan's grandmother got me started and tought me the basics. As we took our trains around these countries I got knitting and maybe finished about 15cm. I was very slow, and the scarf is VERY wide.
As we have moved around France, I have been knitting along the way with my skinny wool and tiny needles. I was knitting many a night in the Biarritz Surf Hostel kitchen (hence my name as mother of the house), while we were woofing, on the vineyard, all over the country. As the cooler weather was approaching I felt a greater sense of urgency to finish the scarf for Morgan in time for winter. Our time in Bad Berneck was the perfect conditions for me to finish that damn scarf, nearly 9 months later. It's been such an epic journey and I can't believe it is finished.
-kim

Prague, Czech Republic

Wow. It is a lot harder than we thought blogging without a computer. Sorry about that. Well we have had a delightful 7 days here in Prague, and tomorrow we head to Vienna. We came here with my parents, and then left after a few days to go back to Germany. We have had a great time strolling the old cobbled streets, admiring the architecture and trying to avoid the hundreds of tourists. We have done the things you are supposed to do... Visit Prague Castle, walk the Charles Bridge, see the astronomical clock and the Lennon wall. These have been great, although some of our favorite things have been climbing the hill to see the view from Letna Park, this great little cafe near our hotel, and just sitting by the Vltava River all rugged up and watching the world go by. It certainly feels like winter is here, and we are loving the change in season and the subsequent change in our wardrobe.
-kim

Heading East

We are off again and starting the next stage of our year. Its pretty hard to stay still in Europe, with so many exciting and interesting places in such a close proximity, so we aren't. Today we head to Prague and begin a 2 month train trip through Eastern Europe. We will be heading through Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, and ending in Turkey. Above is a little map of our travels from when we left Paris in mid September, to the end of December. Not yet sure what we will do next year, but Turkey seems to be a lovely place to escape for winter.
-m&k

Let it SNOW!!!

Yesterday we woke up to a winter wonderland and a village covered in white. Snow is such a thrill for us and we are loving all the excitement of this season. These next few days we plan on drinking red wine, walking in the snowing woods, listening to Christmas music and maybe a few films.
In other news, we are having some issues with our laptop so until we get that sorted our blog posts from now on might only be iPhone photos. We'll just have to see what happens.
This week we had a great 4 day trip, driving down to Austria and Italy with my parents. Hopefully we can share some of our photos from our other Cameras soon.
-kim