Uffizi

1. Michelangelo's David flanked by 4 Mapplethorpe photographs of Ajiotti at the Galleria dell'Accademia. Art liable to turn me gay. :)

2. The view of Florence from the top of Giotto's bell tower.

3. The amazing collection of Renaissance art at the Uffizi. The huge crowds aren't the best way to enjoy the art but you can't blame them for flocking there.

Italian coffee

1. Coffee. Real Italian coffee. As good as you can imagine.

2. Italians are a good-looking and well dressed bunch.

3. The architecture in Bologna and Florence (I did occasionally take my eyes off the Italians to admire the buildings and fountains too).

Austria

1. My first visit to Austria. We drove through the snow-covered Alps, passing many ski slopes and castles, and had a walk around the pretty town of Innsbruck.

2. My first visit to Italy. Trento for lunch, Bologna for dinner. The pizza is as good as you would expect it to be.

3. I only visited 2 new countries today and since I can't match #1 and #2 I'll go to the other extreme and name today's 3rd good thing as seeing a condom in a carpark stairwell. Gross, I know, but it's good to see that Italians are ignoring the Pope and using protection. :)

Residenz

1. Third Reich walking tour of Munich. The tour guide was a good storyteller and I learnt a lot about WWI & WWII history.

2. The tour guide informed us that it's illegal to make the Nazi salute in Germany and that the fine is a month's wages. That's a good thing, although I imagine it affects stupid drunk tourists at Oktoberfest more than neo-Nazis (which is probably why the tour guide includes the warning in his tour).

3. Munich Residenz. Pretty spectacular digs of the Bavarian dukes and kings. Must find out who their interior decorator was (the informative audio guide probably told me at some point but it was all too much to take in and I was distracted by gilt and mirrors).

Feurerzangenbowle

1. Pretzels and baked camembert with lingonberry sauce - the German food I will miss the most when I go home.

2. Georg and I went for a ride and it was nice to get some exercise. Cracking the ice puddles with our bike tyres made a cool sound (is a puddle still a puddle when it's frozen over or does it have another name?)

3. The world's largest burnt punch event. http://www.muenchner-feuerzangenbowle.de

TV Tower

1. I've just caught up on the last 10 days on 3 Good Things. Although my camera has been playing up because of the freezing weather, I'll have a few photos that are not pink and scrambled to decorate these posts when I'm back in Cambridge.

2. Elise & I went up the TV Tower and it was a clear enough day to get a good view of Munich and even the snow on the Alps.

3. 'East of Everything', the ABC TV series. It's a great series although it's making me homesick for Australia and especially for the beach.

Xmas stuffing

1. Made my first ever Xmas roast dinner by myself, overcoming the challenges of not knowing what a giblet is, how to read German, or where half the utensils are in Elise & Georg's kitchen. Sweet potato soup, roast turkey with fig & hazelnut stuffing and roast vegies, Xmas pudding, biscotti, and rum balls. I had it ready by the time Elise got back from work at 3pm and we all stuffed ourselves until we couldn't get off the couch.

2. Recovering on the couch from all the food and mulled wine, watching episodes of The Office, East West 101, and Heart and Soul.

3. Gifts. I got a couple of books, a CD, some chocolate (including amazing champagne truffles Georg brought back from Switzerland), and there's a new hairdryer waiting for me in Cambridge.

Rum balls

1. Rum balls. Although I had to improvise because I couldn't find the Kondensmilch, they still turned out to be addictively delicious (perhaps because I replaced the condensed milk with extra rum).

2. Monte and Nacho, Elise & Georg's rabbits. They are so cute.

3. Being Xmas Eve, not much was open, but Georg and I found a pub for dinner and then a bar that was open. The bar was a Turkish men's club and I felt a bit awkward being the only woman among about 30 men (and me and Georg the only ones drinking alcohol and not playing cards) but we were made to feel welcome. :)

Nürnberg

1. The highlight of our trip to Nürnberg was Albrecht Dürer's house. It's a cute house, very well preserved, and I was especially excited after my visit to the Pinokothek yesterday.

2. Curiosity satisfied about the Jürgen Teller photography exhibition. I guess the Good Thing about it is that Elise isn't mad at me for dragging her along to the Kunsthalle to see it.

3. Elise and I have had our fix of Xmas market food so we looked around Nürnberg for any restaurant that wasn't serving sausages, and luckily came across a great Mexican restaurant.

Pinakothek

1. Dürer's self-portrait and portrait of Oswald Krell at the Alte Pinakothek. One of my first favourite artists, and probably one of the reasons I'm really interested in portraiture. Quite the thrill to see the original artwork.

2. The Rubens exhibition at the Alte Pinakothek was also spectacular.

3. Although I didn't think much of the Pinokothek der Moderne (their collection is fodder for people who are cynical about contemporary art) there was a cool exhibition about the history of computers in the design gallery.

Above Zero

1. The temperature got above 0 degrees for the first time since I arrived in Germany.

2. Ludwigsburg. The castle was closed by the time I got there because I was distracted by the wonderful Xmas market. I bought some little gifts for Elise & Georg and had a Nutella crepe.

3. 'The Shadow of the Wind' bz Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Good holiday reading on loan from Elise.

Eiszapfen

1. Visiting Lichenstein castle which was closed for the winter, but looked so pretty covered in snow and icicles.

2. I had to look up the spelling of icicle in the dictionary and since the only dictionary to hand was an Englisch one, I also learnt the German word: Eiszapfen.

3. I'm getting by in Germany with no German vocabulary except for Eiszapfen and Danke.

Ice-skating

1. Ice-skating on the frozen lake near Nymphenburg castle. It's only frozen over a few days a year usually so I feel very lucky to be here at the right time! And very lucky that none of us fell through the ice into the lake!

2. Elise made a delicious lunch. I haven't had a hearty home-cooked meal made for me in ages.

3. Georg drove us safely through the dark and snow to Stuttgart.

Snow

1. A big late brunch with Elise.

2. Climbing up St Peter's tower. The visibility wasn't quite good enough to see the Alps today, but we had a good view of the city.

3. Snow. Everything looks so pretty covered in snow.

Munich

1. Georg picked me up from Munich airport and we had a traditional German breakfast at his work.

2. A nap. I was so exhausted after working on my films from about 7am til midnight then the 9 hour journey to Munich.

3. Mulled wine & gingerbread at the Munich Xmas market with Elise.

Editing

1. Finished editing the 3 Blowing Smoke films & I'm really happy with them.

2. Xmas dinner at CB2 with the ARU's Research Students' Group.

3. Made it to the Gatwick Airport bus. Pretty much had to run from Arbury to Parkers' Piece but I made it there moments before the 12.45am departure.

Prague in May

1. I got into the conference in Prague!

2. Taking back all my library books - it's a liberating feeling. Although I couldn't help myself - I borrowed 3 more.

3. Editing. I worked on two of the Blowing Smoke series films today. They're nearly done and they're looking good.

Birthday

1. All the lovely birthday messages I got via Facebook and email, and the really cute photos Benji took of the parmas dinner they had in my honour. :)

2. Gifts! Lovely red scarf from M&D and much-needed thermals and a German phrasebook. :) I got cards from Gemma and Ellie. And I know there's at least 1 more package on its way from Melbourne too!

3. Birthday dinner and a few ales with Gemma, Ellie, and a new friend from uni, Rob.

Tea & scones

1. Elise & Georg gave me a hat & scarf for my birthday. They've warmed up and brightened up my wardrobe. Thanks!

2. Tea and scones at Auntie's Tea Shop. While Elise & Georg were here we ate all the typically English dishes, and I was particularly glad when we ticked this final one off the list.

3. Fitzwilliam Museum. Much more impressive than I imagined it would be. Favourite work today was Rodin's 'Man with a Broken Nose'.

Exploring

1. Elise & Georg hired bikes and we rode out of town to Trumpington and Grantchester. Sunny day, beautiful countryside, and cute churches, pubs, and houses with thatched roofs along the way.

2. We did a walking tour of the town, which was mostly about University of Cambridge. Learnt lots of interesting history from our informative tour guide.

3. Warming up in the pub with a couple of ciders.

Tower of London

1. Tower of London. Its long, interesting, gruesome history was revealed on the tour. Worth the visit, despite the price.

2. Showing Elise & Georg around town when we finally arrived in Cambridge. We had a few travel hassles today but we made it, and eventually found a good restaurant that could fit us in amongst all the Xmas parties.

3. Elise & Georg are feeling better - hopefully recovered from their tummy bugs and hopefully I didn't catch it!

Jason Donovan

1. Earth: Art of a Changing World Art at the Royal Academy of Arts Contemporary gallery. Lemn Sissay's spoken word video art piece 'What if?' was my favourite work in an amazing show.

2. Seeing Elise & Georg! And I get to hang out with them in London & Cambridge for the next 3 days!

3. Priscilla: Queen of the Desert The Musical at the Palace Theatre. It's exactly the kind of show I wanted to see when I chose badly on Broadway (twice) and last time I saw a West End musical - so many incredible costumes & great musical numbers. And Jason Donovan. :)

Le Donk

1. Breakfast movie. Can't say I thought much of Brian de Palma's 'Blow Out' but it's nice watching a movie before getting up and facing the day.

2. 'Getting up and facing the day' involving riding down to the Picturehouse to meet Ellie and watch a free screening of 'Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee'.

3. Cup of tea with Ellie after the movie as we mused about the mysteries of whether there are any other postgrad students in our department (we haven't met any) and whether anyone understands the admin processes, because we're really confused! We're going to figure it out and publish a little info booklet for the incoming students in February.

Dinner party

1. New pair of boots. It probably is time to retire my 8 year old Docs and wear shoes that don't leak or give me blisters. :)

2. Dinner party at the Lock Keeper's Cottage with Gemma, Adam, Tina & Rhiannon. Ages since I've been to a dinner party and they were great company.

3. Gemma's delicious curry. Haven't had a curry that good since the last time Rohan made me one.

Cries and Whispers

1. Birthday package arrived from Mum & Dad. I'm not allowed to open til Monday (or Sun night? since it will be Monday in Australia) but I'm excited it's arrived! I wonder if I'll have the self-restraint to keep it unopened until then. :)

2. Editing Un Chant D'Amour. It's looking beautiful, if I do say so myself.

3. It's bleak, melodramatic, and didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I found Bergman's 'Cries and Whispers' very compelling viewing anyway.

Men, Women and Chainsaws

1. A long sleep-in.

2. Read the whole of Carol Clover's 'Men, Women and Chainsaws'.

3. A nice fix of adrenalin, fresh air, and vitamin D when I went for a quick ride before the sun went down.

Flying fox

1. The sun was shining this morning so I went for a long walk around my neighborhood and came across a playground with a flying fox! I jumped on and had a go but it stalled halfway - I think it was designed for kids. :)

2. I've written 500 words of my thesis. Only 79,500 to go!

3. Chuck Norris in 'An Eye For An Eye'.

Flowering Osmanthus

1. I tried the flowering osmanthus green tea Miri gave me - delicious! And it looks so pretty in its teapot.

2. Woke up feeling miserable this morning but I pulled myself out of it by midday. I feel lucky that these bouts are temporally confined and not that frequent. In general I'm a lot happier here than I expected to be.

3. I only have one friend in Cambridge but she's quality. We went to the Picturehouse tonight, had a couple of drinks and saw the new Coen brothers' film.

Tarantino & Confucianism

1. 'London to Brighton'. This latest rape-revenge viewing was bleak but interesting. And I got a bit of a thrill out of recognizing the Brighton locations from my recent trip.

2. A productive day at Cambridge University Library - I ploughed through 5 books. I found a really useful one on Tarantino & philosophy.

3. I've caught up - 3 Good Things is up to date and looking prettier with more photos this week.

Packages

1. Xmas decorations from Mum. It was exciting opening them all up and I especially liked the trumpet-playing snowman - a cute variation on the trumpet-playing angel I receive each year. :) My decoration-less bedroom has suddenly brightened up.

2. I opened up the other package, an even bigger box than the first. I had no idea who it was from or what it could be. So it was a nice surprise to find a birthday present from Miri! A cute little glass teapot and flowering osmanthus tea. Thanks Miri! (and sorry I opened it 2 weeks early) :)

3. Having coffee with Ellie at uni and a cuppa with Gemma when I got home. Nice to catch up with my new Cambridge friends, especially today because it was tough going back to work after my lovely (but too brief!) holiday in London and Brighton.

Fish'n'chips

1. Sitting on the pebbles of Brighton beach, writing in my 3 Bad Things journal.

2. Fish & chips on the foreshore with E-j. First time I've had fish & chips since arriving in the UK and I'd been dreaming about it since reading Nigella's piece about the perfect fish & chips in The Brighton Book.

3. Made it back to Cambridge in time for the ARU Literary Society's spoken word gig at the cute old Leper Chapel.