I left with a boyfriend and came home with a fiance...

I'm ba-ack and yes you read that title correctly... we got engaged!!!!!!

It was Friday the 12th of January, we were halfway up the Austrian Alps, alone in a gondola/cable car, and my beloved boyfriend got down on one knee and asked me if I would marry him!!!

Of course I said YES!!!! I was completely taken by surprise, it was the most romantic setting ever! This is the view we had from the cable car - not a bad view to get engaged to, eh?

So we are going to buy the ring in a few weeks (now that we're home) but he did make me a temporary ring... he had taken a table napkin from the hotel restaraunt, written the most beautiful message inside, and folded it up lengthways, so he could tie it around my finger - I will treasure that forever... sigh... so romantic...

So - the remainder of our holiday was great! Before we left England we travelled down to London, met my uncle, did a fabulous day tour to Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath. Then off to Innsbruck for the skiing (and engagement!). My fiance (hee hee sounds funny) tried snowboarding, and I skiied (i had skiied twice before) and he was covered in bruises after the first hour, but we had a ball. I managed to stay on my feet for about an our before the first stack.

After Innsbruck we went to Naples, Pompeii and the Isle of Capri. Pompeii was mindblowing - I kept walking around saying "I cant believe I'm finally at Pompeii" over and over. Spectacular, and the Pompeii ruins themselves were really big - far too big to walk around in 3 hours, which is all the time we had.

This is me at Pompeii, with the volcano Mt Vesuvius in the background.This is the bay of Naples - the day was quite hazy, but fairly warm too (16 or 17 degrees C) considering it was the middle of winter.

Finally we headed back to Rome, where we had two days to see the sights. I didnt like Rome itself, dirty, crowded, noisy, and crazy drivers! But Ancient Rome was fantastic. My favourite place was the Roman Forum - ahhh it was amazing. I cant believe I got to walk around and touch ruins that were over 2000 years old.

We went to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, St Peters Basilica, St Pauls, Capitol, and finally the Coliseum, where we spent our final afternoon. We both loved it - the history of the place is incredible.

I have many more photos, so I will post more in the days to come. Right now I am exhausted, as we seemed to be coming home forever. I think I have slept about 5 hours in the last 48. Lucky I have one more week off work - I think we need it!

Thats about it for now, I will catch up with everyones blogs in the next day or two!