Europe Round 2: Egypt and Home

June 26 

So. Where are we up to? I've been on the road for 3 weeks and things are showing no sign of slowing down. The next stop after the cruise and Athens was... Egypt! We caught our flight from Athens to Cairo painlessly and stress free... we are getting good! At the baggage reclaim there was a guy waiting for us, it was so cool and I felt so important. They took us to the hotel where we had a nap before meeting our new group of instant friends. Our guide Marwan took us to a place that had Egyptian food. Most of us had what's called koshary, not sure what it was but it was pretty good.

In the morning we got up and went to the Cairo Archeology Museum. It was really good but we were all so tired it was hard to appreciate anything. One thing I thig I did really enjoy was the part on King Tutenkahmun. They had on display his coffins and the golden headdress that he was buried in. It weighs 11kg of solid gold. Seriously, how could you wear that for any length of time and not have a sore neck? Maybe he was just buried in it. After lunch we moved on to the great pyramids of Giza. 

There's really not a lot to say about them, everyone knows what they are, but it was one of those amazing once in a lifetime moments...I seem to be having a lot of those lately. We got to go inside the second pyramid though which was really cool. We walled down this steep narrow shaft hunched over then up some more into the centre of the pyramid where there was an empty sarcophogous and some grafiti from 1818.  The sphinx though, was a lot smaller than I was expecting. I thought it was meant to be huge hut probably only stood 10m high, maybe not even that.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a place that showed how the ancient egyptians used to make paper out of papyrus plants. They would cut strips of it, hammer and rolling pin each strip to get rid of the fiber, which makes it flexible. Then they'd soak it to get rid of the sugar (I think) and then criss-cross them to the desired size. They had some really nice artworks in here for sale too so hopefully if time and the budget allow it when we are back in Cairo I might get one.

That night we boarded a night train bound for Aswan. It took 15 hours but we got there. I was lucky enough to get a few hours sleep, but they weren't good ones. Once we had dumped our stuff in the hotel most of our group went to the high dam and Philae Temple. The dam was pretty much just a dam but the temple was really cool. After they dammed the Nile this temple was being flooded, which you can see from the water marks on it, so the Egyptian government and UNESCO moved it piece by piece to this site on higher ground. We had the most amazing Egyptologist take us through as well. His name was Nuby, he was about 60 years old and just like an old storyteller. At the temple we all sat around him for him to tell us all about it. We also helped him with his English as he is writing a book. We came and picked up the others and set off for the evening's actvities. We caught a boat almost to a Nubian village then had a camel ride the rest of the way. All the locals were really helpful and were loving taking photos for us. In the village we were shown through a primary school and a Nubian gave us a short lesson in Arabic and Nubian. Then we had for dinner local food in a local's house. It was a really interesting day and so different to the rest of my trip. A real experience of a local culture that I had never experienced anything like before.

June 29

Watch the sunrise over the Sahara: check. Sail on and swim in the Nile: check.
I want to say the next day but it was practically that night, 2:30 am we got the wakeup call to join a police convoy at 3:30 to Abu Simbel. It was a 3 hour drive there to see 2 temples that, to be honest, probably weren't worth at least 6 hours in a cramped minivan, let alone when spent after getting up in the middle of the night. But it was cool to see, definitely not a waste of time. It had lots of carvings of Heiroglyphics on the walls and such. It was also kinda cool to just be driving through the sahara, but just seemed a long way to go. On our return to Aswan we went straight to the river and got on our felucca, which would he our home for the next 2 days. The felucca is a sailing boat about 10-15 metres long with one massive sail. The living space was just a wooden floor covered in mattresses and this is where we ate and slept... And that's pretty much all we did. The crew of 3 Nubians did all the sailing and cooked all our meals, which generally involved a lot of pita bread and then a rice or pasta with some sort of stew. It was kinda like the budget equivalent of the cruise I was just on, very budget.

We docked for the night on the bank, had a few refreshments and sat around a campfire, but there wasn't much wood, just dead palm leaves. We were very near a little village and a bunch of kids came over to the fire with their drums and sang a whole bunch of Nubian songs and danced. It was really cool, they were obviously all songs they learnt as kids and this is what they do. They must just love it when tourists stop by because they have so much attention.

When I woke up the thing Emily said to me was 'wanna go for a swim?' of course I did so we went ashore and found a nice spot not far from the boat since others were still sleeping.  After we'd done this, everything I needed to achieve for the day had been completed so the rest of the day was my own! We all pretty much just read and relaxed on the boat til lunch. Where we docked there was a group of Nubian teens (I guess locals) having a swim and dancing and singing with drums in the water. Of course we went over and joined which they absolutely loved. Especially the girls in their bikinis. They must have thought this was heaven on earth, all these pretty, white girls dancing with us in next to nothing. They weren't very subtle though, which is a total understatement to say the least. We sailed for about another hour or so and stopped at a place for the night. We played some football with people from other feluccas and it was great to have a kick around. The sand was so hot though so every break in play everyone ran into the water to cool down. After the game I had a beer in the Nile. It was amazing, how many people can say theyve done that? A few more beverages and dinner later and it was night time. We were searching for games and I taught everyone how to play mafia. Good game, fun to play by candlelight on a bed of matresses on a felucca too. After this it was back on shore for some more entertainment from the locals.

July 1

In the morning the crew started paddling as the sun rose which thankfully didn't wake me. I woke up to the boat being in a totally different place as I went to sleep and the sun was not where I was expecting it to be. We boarded the bus bound for Luxor. Once there we had a few hours free time, most of which me and Emily spent on our room as she still wasn't feeling well. Then we went to see Karnak Temple and Luxor temple. We had a guide a who told us so much stuff but have no idea what. He could read heiroglyphics pretty good though. After more Egyptian food for dinner, a walk through the markets (where I swear at least 2 people from each shop invited us to spend our money there), and some shisha it was bedtime. Shisha was another totally new experience for me. As Egypt is a Muslim country you can't drink alcohol (in public) so instead of going out for social beers, people out for shisha. It is essentially flavoured tobacco that you inhale through a long tube. Essentially a massive bong, but you are only smoking tobacco. 



July 2

An early start brought us to the Valley of the Kings. This morning was really something special. We visited 3 tombs of ancient Egyptian kings: Thutmosis. No 34, Sethy II. No 15, Ramses III. No 11, and then the one and only King Tutankhamen, who was easily the highlight. When he was buried he was put inside four coffins, I saw 2 in the Cairo museum, the other 2 were in this tomb along with his mummy, which is kinda creepy: I was just looking at a 4000 year old dead guy. After this we stopped at Queen Hatshepsut's (Hotchipsoup) Temple where we just took an epic amount of touristy photos. That afternoon was way more stressful than it needed to be. The other day Mitch told us he couldn't drive us to Pamplona from Barcelona anymore which totally threw a spanner in our proverbial works. I still didn't know what his plan was and it wasn't coming together. Em decided to join most of our little group on the second half of their tour. (sidebar, seriously, how easy is it to make friends, put us in a group travelling situation add water and presto!). I considered doing it too but needed to find out how much it would cost. I decided I would, but then found out about more I'd need to spend and decided not to again. Em still moved on which was a bit sad not to end our trip in Spain together but it worked out best for her since she had money to burn and there was too much uncertainty surrounding it all. Right now it's only been several hours but I do already miss traveling with her. I've just become used to and accustomed to her being there. I'm not romantically interested in her and nor her in me, but this was kinda our trip and it's shame it had to be cut short. But as Katie from our Topdeck tour says: it is what it is, and Spain is still going to be awesome!

That night, those of us that were left, Brian (Argentina) and Cenara (Brazil) caught the night train back to Cairo. I slept a surprising amount which meant I didn't need to nap when we got to the hotel. After they had theirs we met back and caught a cab to some catholic quarter of the city. I didn't and still don't know much about it, but we just saw a few little churches. Nothing like the European ones I had become used to seeing. Our driver waited for us and took us to the markets. I didn't buy anything of great significance, they weren't near as good as Istanbul, and way more intense. Seriously, every shop has at least 2 people asking you to take a look. Those two started talking Portuguese to each other as it's harder for the shop owners to pick up than English or Spanish. I noted at some stage today that I was the English speaking minority of our much smaller group yet we still speak English. Brian's native tongue is Spanish and Cenara's Portuguese but are both fluent in English. They have the cutest story, Brian moved to Dublin to work, Cinara to learn English, they met one day on the street in English, fell in love, and now, in two they months are moving back to Rio to live. Cenara is teaching Brian to speak Portuguese so that's what they speak to each other. We had many good conversations about languages, they said that for them it is easier to understand English that is spoken in a foreign accent (such as Marwan) than those of us who speak it naturally. 

That night we watched Argentina lose to Germany 4-0 in the World Cup quarter finals. Don't worry Brian I know the feeling of being beaten by them like that. We then walked to the Cairo tower but was too expensive to go up, so we just sat there and wathced it light up and had dinner at the restaraunt next to it.

July 4

My final day in Egypt. After I bade my new friends farewell I caught a cab to Cairo citadel, or Mohummad Ali Mosque. This was he most intense cab ride ever. Now in Egypt, it seemed like road rules, and even good driving was merely a suggestion, rather than a law. No one takes any notice of lanes and if you want to turn on to a road you just beep your horn and go. That's the other thing, everyone is constantly on their horn. In Oz, you'll use it rarely, here they use it as they pass just about every car and pedestrian and then some! So, the citadel, I did in fact get there safely (despite my seatbelt also not working throughout that chaos), Brian and Cinara told me to get a guide but I couldn't find any. Didn't matter too much, it was fine just looking at things. Then I went and hung out in Cairo's biggest park for a bit and deadset I don't think I've ever been stared at more than in that park. Seriously, are us Westerners that interesting? Another thing I noticed about Egypt is that obviously all the girls cover up to the max, but none of the guys ever wear shorts either. Which makes it even easier to spot a tourist!
I headed back to the hostel and chilled out there while I waited for my cab to the airport. When I was checking in the funniest thing happened, my bag was a little over the weight limit and the guy working there who put it on lifted up the scales to bring it down to 20 and rubbed his fingers tigether and showed me a €10 note indicating... Well you can probably guess. So I slipped him a tenner and laughed all the way to the gate.

I caught this flight to Brussels to connect to Barca, but in Brussels I learned that I booked my flight for the day before, hooray, there goes another €290!!! Once that was settled I got to Barca fine. I started looking around about 4:00 at the Catulunya Square or something, walked down La Rambla and found the Barcelona cathedral, awesome sweet, another church! That's pretty much what I thought of it. I wandered down to the port and had some dinner and beer then walked back up past the Picasso museum, Santa Maria del mar church and the Spanish's very own Arc de Triomphe. I headed back and watched a movie on my bed to unwind as I slept in the airport the night before (when will this crziness end!?)

July 6

In the morning I got up at a reasonable hour and headed to the Sagrada Familiar, by far my favourite church that I saw in Europe in my entire 6 months there. The church was designed by Gaudi over a hundred years ago and is still being finished. And really, it's not even close. It looks so impressive now but I looked at the designs for when it will be completed and it will look even more incredible. The best thing about this church is that it is totally different to the architecture of every other church I've seen.

Most are designed with baroque, gothic or other popular types though history but this one is simply the style of Gaudi. He was very influenced by nature growing up and this is shown through his architecture. I could go on to explain more about it but the photos will speak volumes more. I got the audio guide and took my sweet time going through it so it took a couple of hours.

As a result this was the only thing I had time for before I went to the bus station for yet another mishap...
So back in Cairo right, I buy my ticket online on a Spanish website with Brian's help. The money came out of my account but I never got a proper confirmation or reservation or anything and I thought "this a bit weird". When I got to the station the driver wouldn't let me on and told me to go upstairs and check. The ticket office said it was fine, I told the driver this and he reluctantly let me on but said buy a ticket at the next place. 
Luckily there was a single spare seat on the next bus leaving (probably the one I already paid for, who knows) but I also paid another €20 for the convenience. Go Spain. Once in Pamplona, I got off the bus to find that my luggage was not on this bus. Oh dear. This is bad. The driver, in his limited English told me that there were 2 buses, I was on one and my luggage was on the other because I left it on the bus when I bought my ticket. Unbeknown to me I changed buses. Hopefully the other bus is behind, not in front of us. 20 stressful minutes later the bus and my luggage arrived and shortly after did none other than Mitchell and Daniel Jones, along with Alex Laucht. We had a drink and a feed, bought my whites and headed to the campsite.

About 4 hours later we awoke at the ungodly hour of 4:30 to get the 5am bus in town for the opening run. We waited around for hours and found what we thought to be a good spot. About half way, not far from dead man's corner. It was really funny, Mitch and Dan were quite nervous because they had researched it and knew what to expect. I on th hand was blissfully ignorant as to what to expect so I was on top of the world. Unfortunately, however, we were too far along the path and there turned out to be too many people wanting to run for it to be safe and we consequently were kicked out. Great, we got up so early for nothing. We couldn't even find a good vantage point to watch it from as all the good places were taken by that stage. After a hamburger for breakfast we decided to go to San Sebastian for the day. Pretty much there is a beach there. I fell asleep on it probably for a good hour an a half and I awoke to no one being near me so I joined the boys in the water (which had sand AND waves!!!) And that was Running of the Bulls day 1.

We decided to set the alarm a bit later since we learnt it really didn't matter what time you got there. This time we did run. We decided to start a little bit closer to the beginner to reduce the chances to being kicked off again. So we are on the road waiting, it's about 7:58 and we hear a fire cracker go off. This means start running, we'll give you a bit of a headstart. For whatever reason most don't start running then. About 30 seconds later another one goes off saying the bulls have been released, run for your lives!! You can see this in the video but everyone is jumping to try and see the bulls coming. Once they realize you can't see them we all turn and start running, the moment of truth has arrived. It's all very panicky. You are running trying to dodge so many people, I rounded the corner and noticed everone screaming and moving to the sides, I turned around and saw a clear path behind me and thought oh crap, here they come. Sure enough, before I knew it, about 45 seconds in to the race the bulls run past. My heart was pumping. So I start running again, which turns in to more of a light jog than anything and sure enough, there is a second lot, but they are much slower and seemingly less dangerous. They passed me safely and I though I need to keep up with these guys because the doors to the arena shut after them. I missed out by about 15 metres.

But that was ok, I watched from the arena for a bit and it looks so dangerous. There was one bull in there and loads of people and it was just charging. I must have seen about 10 people knocked around by it in a matter if minutes. Best part was though if someone grabbed on to the horns of a bull (which a few people did) the locals would just attack them. So many punches were thrown, it was awesome. Afterwards we decided we all wanted a nap, but also there's still nothing to actually do in Pamplona, so we went to the beach in San Sebastian again, fully intending to sleep on the beach, which I did, for 2 hours. The next morning we left earlier than expected due to rain but it didn't matter, we were done. We got to Madrid and did nothing. Then woke up, had some lunch and I left for Frankfurt, where I also did nothing. Pretty much by this stage I realised the holiday is done. The dream is over. I'm fairly sick of being an epic tourist, I've seem enough churches and I'm sick of being ripped off. But these last 6 months are going to be hard to top. Take me home.

Europe Round 2: 1 Cruise, 2 people, 3 Continents

June 18

Friday morning we needed to be at the dock between 8 and 11 and based on our current track record, odds were good that it would be a late dash to the port to just sneak in. Luckily we had learned our lesson and got up with enough time and got on comfortably. First impressions of the cruise were grand, there were people waiting at the door to show us to our cabin and it was at this time I knew it was going to be a good week. We went to lunch and were shown to our table and were given a menu without prices. Generally speaking this means you're in a classy restaraunt and in any other circumstances I would have run scared knowing the prices would send me broke. Thankfully it was all included in the very reasonable price we paid for the cruise: all 4 courses. We had to make a reservation for dinner, and when it came time we were shown to or very own private table, table 49 where we enjoyed most of our dinners.

Istanbul: Apple Tea

Saturday morning we landed in Istanbul. As I had already been and knew all the sites Emily and I skipped the €97 shore excursion and I gave her my very own tour. It started at the blue mosque and the Aya Sofia just like the paid tours did. I then took her to the Grand Bazaar and she immediately fell in love. Wihin minutes she had already learned how to haggle and had bought a little shisha. After the sale the shop-owner invited us to stay for a cup of apple tea (a Turkish specialty). We obliged after he mentioned the word free and it was really nice just sitting there in his shop having a tea with the world passing by. We also totally ignored the fact that he was a bit of a creep and Emily is a very pretty, young, white girl, who he insisted on getting a photo with. We moved

through the bazaar for a few hours, I bought this awesome chess set which will be a pain to lug around but will be totally worth it, and Emily also bought a silk scarf. It was funny, the scarf guy wouldn't sell a scarf to a local for 60 lira (opening price was 80) but would to Emily. I didn't understand. Generally speaking I assumed that they see white people and try and rip off the tourists. Maybe he just gave her the 'Emily is pretty' discount. We found a place for lunch outside (kebabs, obviously) and walked to the spice bazaar. Of course being white we were getting the usual amount of attention, but not as much as last time I was there wearing the Galatasaray jersey. We wandered around some backstreet markets just near he bazaar and slowly started our walk back to the ship, spending my last 4 lira on some very weird street vendor ice cream that the locals seemed to be loving. For dinner we returned to table 49 by he mirror and were again given the choice of many gourmet courses: appetizers, soup, main, dessert and then cheese and coffees if we wanted it. The waiters were all amazing, we had the same waiter and drinks guy every night and your glass of water is never empty.

On returning to our room we found a lovely surprise. sitting on emily's bed was a piece of towel art, yes, a swan made out of a towel. Em named him Roger and we could only just bear to use the towel. (We then proceeded to open the bottle of jager we snuck on board. We had half of it each mixed with red bull we bought in Istanbul and needless to say we were a bit happy. This was first time we had really drank together and it was really fun.) At about 11:30 we went up to the Rendezvous Lounge looking for food since midnight snacks were available. We found a waiter who was hilarious. He kept offering us slices and when we had had one he'd be like 'please, take more, no take more, please'. (We then went up to the sun deck out the front of the boat and climbed over the railing and just sat there as the ship surged forward into the darkness of the night, 'playing Titanic'. Then we walked around the ship for a bit until we came to the Caruso bar at the back of the boat on level 6, where we played some more before retiring to our chambers.

The following morning was spent on the ship not doing a whole lot, we probably just the day eating as there always seemed to be food available. We always had a late breakfast, and lunch was between 12 and 2. We got to

Mykonos at around 3 and again didn't do the tour. We saved our €47 and explored the town on our own, we sat on the beach, swam at the beach them had a snack at a cafe as an excuse to utilize their wifi, not too big though because we knew a buffet dinner was waiting for us back on the ship. There isn't a whole lot to do in Mykonos but it is a very cute little island town, seemingly very cut off from the world yet very welcoming toward tourists. Of course it was very picturesque as well with all the white and blue houses covering the rugged coastline. You could spend days here just relaxing, and eating their great food, but alas, our luxury cruise ship beckoned.

On the way back to the ship I bought some cheap Greek beers ('Mythos') and Em bought some cheap wine. We snuck it through security (really not difficult at all) and sat in the room for most of the evening drinking our respective alcohols, sharing the drinking of the wine from the bottle (well I guess not everything about the ship was classy). About midnight we went exploring the ship again, sat outside on the front top deck again. We sat outside for a bit and just enjoyed the cool air and each other's company before heading back to bed. We stayed up pretty late talking as you can imagine we slept the morning away, but it didn't matter too much as this was our day at sea.

Since our room was on the inside and had no windows, there was no light to wake us up or tell us what time it was. As a result, we pretty much got up in time for lunch... And only just. This soon led on into afternoon tea and then dinner which was meant to be elegant dress. So I put on my coat that I had brought from Summer Ball, put with it a nice shirt and I was still severely overdressed. I was so disappointed in everyone else.

Tuesday mornng (22nd) we arrived in Port Ashdod, Israel. This was the thing I reckon I'd been looking forward to most about this trip. It was an hour and a bit trip to Bethlehem, which I had no idea was in Palestine. The main

Jerusalem: The Wailing Wall

attraction here as you would expect is the church of the Nativity, the loctaion of Christ's birth. We lined up for an hour and walked down into the shrine, it's pretty amazing to know what happened here 2000 years ago. After this they took us to a souvenir shop where I bought a hand carved wooden nativity set, probably the best thing I've bought over here. And then it was lunchtime next door. By the time lunch was over it was already 2:00 and it didn't seem like we had seen all that much.

Jerusalem was a short drive away and after getting off the bus Emily, myself, and another American family that we met at dinner thr night before lost our tour group on the way to the first sight, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Yep that's right, only we would get lost in Israel wouldn't we. We did find them again just in time to see the place of Jesus' tomb, which now has a mausoleum built over the top of it. This was also really amazing, our tour guide also showed us a similar tomb to that which Jesus would have been buried in and how the stone was rolled across.

The next stop was the Wailing Wall. Also known as the Western Wall of the city of Jerusalem. This is where a lot of Jews come to pray and read from the Torah. Also, you're meant to write prayer requests and wishes on slips of paper and stick them in the wall and thy are meant to come true. But personally I might just stick with direct prayer, seems to be working so far. After this we had to wait for the bus for a little bit for our next stop, the Garden of Gethsemane. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting with this but it was very small. It's full of olive trees and they said that it's quite likely that these are the same ones that Jesus would have seen that last night before His crucifixion. Within the grounds of the garden is the Church of all Nations, inside which is the rock that Jesus prayed next to that same night. For me, I think I got the most out of seeing the garden. Not that the others weren't significant but it seemed like the site that is most like it would have been all those years ago. Before heading back to the ship we had a photo stop of Jerusalem Old City from the Mount of Olives, now a massive cemetery. It gave us an incredible view of the city. 

Jerusalem: Garden of Gethsemene 

That night after dinner Em and I had a really good conversation, it went for ages and we talked about everything. Mainly religious beliefs and what life is like back home and past experiences. It was also one of the most challenging for me, I didn't have a lot of answers for the questions she asked about my beliefs. It didn't help that she pretty well knows everything about evolution, but I did my best, and if nothing else is spurred me on to go and learn more about both sides of the argument.

Wednesday was meant to be Egypt but as we were the only 2 who wanted to do the tour that wasn't the pyramids it wasn't running. There were 2 tours offered and since we knew we'd be seeing the Pyramids in a week or so, we chose to save our money. This meant we could either get off and find our own way to Alexandria (3 hours to Cairo then 3 to Alex) or just stay on the boat. Yeah we stayed on. Was still a relaxing day though. Slept in, lunch, sunbaking on the deck were all highlights. We docked in Alexandria to pick up all the tour groups and we had about an hour or so look around. The first thing you notice is how dirty it is. The second and probably more prominent is everyone waiting at the port for naive tourists to scam money from. At least 3 people wanted us to get into their taxis for a 'quick tour' and they are so persistent. They followed us for far more than was necessary. It was kinda funny but at the same time very uncomfotable. Walking through the town we both felt very out of place, it seemed that everyones attenion was on us, though pretty sure Emily felt this more than me. Being a girl wearing wearing a skirt and singlet on top she was getting an alarming amount of stares from all the men there. After not long some random started walking with us. At first it seemed like he was trying to get us into his shop but when we didn't I think he changed tactics by just giving us a tour hoping for a tip at the end. And true to my word when he began, he didn't get one. 

That night was the Captain's Cocktail party and formal dinner. I dressed up in my summer ball suit that I had held on to specifically for this night.

We had a professional photo taken on the way in (which was really nice but wasn't paying €12 for it!), 2 complimentary champagnes and then the captain introduced us to all of his heads of staff. This led straight into dinner and for the first time Emily and I got drinks. Maybe it was the champagne talking but we shared a bottle of wine. It was actually really nice and although it cost €20 I'm glad we did it. It just seemed fitting for the night.

The next day also seemed like a day at sea. We sailed for most of the day to Agios Nicolaos, Crete. More of the usual, but with a few happy hours thrown in. Didn't seem like there was a lot to do there but that said, we were only given an hour and a half to look around. Not near enough if we wanted to find a nice beach to relax on like in Mykonos, which I'm sure was there somewhere. We did acually have a paddle at one small beach which was quite nice. Then found a cafe and had a coffee (and of course utilised their wi-fi).

Thursday night was a sad night. Dinner of course was magnificent, and we sat with the same couple from Broome again, but after that we started packing and had our bags picked up at midnight, ready for our disembarkation the next morning. Friday morning we disembarked for the final time. We had to walk to the other side of the port (probably about half an hour) to get to the metro, and on the way the wheels of the suitcase gave way so inwas effectively dragging it (again). This is the very same bag I bought in Milan. It was such hard work but it didn't end there. After about 30 mins on the metro we then had to walk what seemed like an age, but was probably another 30 mins because my bag was so hard to bring.

Because of the luggage debarkle we then went looking for a bag and had to shell out another €30 for one. After this we had lunch at a place near the hostel, we chose it because they gave us free wine. After lunch it was time for the one famous thing in Athens: the Acropolis.

Athens: The Pantheon

I still don't know much about the acropolis but it was pretty cool. Some pretty old things, a theatre I think. We followed the guidebook to Zeus' Temple to Olympian which was another ancient ruin. But after that was done we kinda didn't know what else to do.  We walked down what we thought would be a cool bazaar that Deon and Robin had told us about, but this just turned out to be a street of markets, but were more like shops. We then had a drink to decide what to do tonight, after a few not great suggestions Emily just goes 'we could just get drunk'. I said 'that could work'. So we went back to the hostel to get done what we needed to, then tried to find a park to drink some wine but there was nothing. So we went to a place right near the hostel who also promised free wine. Over the next few hours we ordered 2 half litres plus our free glass each and ordered some breads and a crepe which turned out to be dinner. It turned out to be cheaper than I expected. Then we went back to the hostel and had 2 glasses of €1 wine each and set off to find some food. We found a place and shared a pizza and guess what, more free wine! We walked back home and no one else was in our room. 

It was kind if weird, this last week, especially on the cruise it actually felt like we were in a relationship. We weren't, and I'm fairly sure neither of wanted to be, we just enjoyed being friends and traveling together. We pretty much never left each other's sides because that's all we knew, we had dinner together in a nice restaraunt which felt like a date, and then we'd do coupley things at night. I also felt protective when we were in Alexandria and carried her bag up and down stairs. Not to mention everone just assumes that we aretogether anyway. We were pretty much the opposite to friends with benefts: a relationship without benefits, but we were fine with that. 

Europe Part 2: The Adventure Continues

Wawel Dragon, Krakow

I feel this entry should actually continue on from my final week in Leeds since we didn't go to bed. From Ana's, Mitch, Evan Steve and I took a cab to Leeds Airport for out 6am flight to Krakow. I was lucky, I was asleep before the safety instructions even began and was woken up by the landing. We got settled and started to explore the town. There's actually not a lot in Krakow. The architecture is a similar style to that of Prague, which makes sense being so close. We walked to the main square and found lunch. We had a traditional meal of (mine was) beetroot soup and dumplings. It was very different to normal but I enjoyed it nonetheless. While we having lunch there a parade came through the square with floating balloons of dragons and the like. A quick Google search revealed that this is called 'The Parade of Dragons'. Ingenious right? It celebrates the 753rd Anniversary of the city being incorporated by King Bolesław V the Chaste in 1257. We then walked over to I guess the castle, which was right on the river. There too was a kind of markets/festival type thing. No idea what it was about but we suspect it had something to do with all the dragons and things that were parading through the main sqaure during lunch. Mitch, Evan and Steve all bought umbrella hats to wear at Southside music festival and I got Josh this awesome machete for some reason. Then we just sat on the bank in the sun for a bit. After that we were pretty wrecked so we ambled home, and were dead to the world by about 7:30.

The next day we got up early for our tour of the Auschwitz concentration camp. There isn't a lot to say

Auschwitz

about it, just that it was one of the biggest Nazi concentration camps of WWII. We saw the chambers in which many people slept and were killed and it was a pretty harrowing experience. That afternoon we found our markets and the river bank again and just explored the city some more. We found our way back to the castle and walked down through some caves to the river bank again. Down there we found the dragon that breathes fire. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it was only a statue. Cameron Flett had warned us not to feed the dragon, so we left it alone and continued on our way.

That night we caught a night train to Prague. As it was my second time there, I had seen all the sights so I put the guys (and now Dan Jones) on the New Europe tour and went and found a nice place to have a beer. I met them at the end for the uprising story and gave them my own express tour of Prague Castle. This time we could actually go in to St Vitus's Cathedral, unlike last time. The guys all wanted to do a Pub crawl, I was a little reluctant due to what happened last time in Prague and I was also fairly poor. So I went along with them while they paid, but we had to wait about an hour for the next one to start. So we went and got some pizza and came back. Now since I hadn't paid I just expected to just hang with the guys while they all enjoyed the power hour (and then some) that they had all paid for. Instead, I just sat there and whenever they got a drink, they got me one too. So pretty much, not only did I not have to pay for a night of drinks and several night clubs, welcome shots etc, I didn't even have to get up to get them. Put that one down as a win.

The next morning they all caught a train to Munich and I left them and went to Milan for a concert that I had booked months before even leaving Australia. Muse. The concert was incredible, and I'll get to that, but as for the city, man, do not get me started on Milan. The day was really hot and it took me forever to find my hostel. Add this to the fact that the wheel on my bag broke so I was practically dragging it through the street. Once I found the place I couldn't even relax, I had to go walking to find a new bag because time was ticking away until I had to get to the concert. I ended up having to shell out another €40 for one, which as you can imagine, I was not too happy about. It wasn't even that great quality.

Muse in Milan

I caught the metro to San Siro, I went to the ticket collection and, OH YEAH! He gave me my ticket to Muse. It had literally been one of the most frustrating days of the last 6 months but you should have seen the grin on my face when he gave it to me. I was like a little kid I almost skipped a bit. So I found my seat (or somebody else's) and waited for the show to begin. The funniest thing was in between acts, Green Day's Holiday and U2's Vertigo came on. You should have heard the cheers and the dancing and the singing going on. It was as if Muse themselves were out there. So. The concert. Muse opened with Uprising followed by New Born, Map of the

Problematique, Our Love is Forever, Guiding Light, Hysteria, United States of Eurasia, Feeling Good, Undisclosed Desires, The Resistance, Back in Black (yes, an AC/DC cover which, for some reason they had Nic Cester come and sing the lead for it...anyway moving on), Time is Running Out, and Unnatural Desires. At this point they finished after about an hour and a half at which point I thought that was a bit crap even with an encore to come, but then they came out and played Unintended and with it came this big UFO shaped balloon with an acrobat hanging from it, not dissimilar to that on HAARP. Then came Exogenesis Part 1 and Stockholm Syndrome and left the stage. I was feeling a lot more satisfied with this, and then they came out a second encore! For the second encore they played Take a Bow, Plug in Baby and finished with Knights of Cydonia with this awesome harmonica intro.It was the best night and made the trip to Milan worthwhile and I just want to relive it over again.

June 9

I had my single night's sleep in Milan then it was off to one of the most romantic cities in the world: Venice. On my own. I arrived at Venice train station there in mid afternoon and caught a bus to the hostel. It was a bit weird because the hostel was on the mainland and was a 15 minute bus ride from Venice. Once there, I had bought a 5 bed dorm (tent) for €13 a night. When I got there they were all full, so they upgraded me to my own (air conditioned!) unit. Since it is not in the heart of Venice, they have a shuttle bus system that you need to book in advance. Most had already been booked so I booked a 6pm one and enjoyed the warm sun, sat by the massive pool and read my book. I made a friend on the bus and we had some pizza together. It was enormous and only about €4. We went for a bit of a wander but had to be back on the bus by 9. 


June 10 was huge. I got a pretty early shuttle into Venice and began my day of walking up bridges and by the water. I am actually writing this significantly after the fact so it will be brief. The photos will show best what I've done. I pretty quickly made my way to the Rialto Bridge, had a beer underneath it at a cafe and got some pretty sweet photos. I saw a couple of churches before heading to the main even: San Marco Square. I also climbed

Venice: View from the Rialto

up the tower there for a stellar view of the city. I kept walking, saw a lot more rivers and bridges and decided to head up to Murano to see some glass, as recommended by Amber. On the way I got a bit lost. I asked some fellow tourists for some help and they actually took me into their hotel lobby and asked the reception. She even pretended I was her son so that the reception would help us. They got me to the right water taxi stand and I made it. First thing I noticed was how much quieter it is. Obviously a lot less people visit Murano, but they should, there are soooo many shops there selling crafted glass jewellery. I made my way back and considered doing a gondola ride. But as I was sitting, resting, I saw a couple get off from their gondola and I saw the guy hand the driver 2 €50 notes. Let's just say he didn't get a lot of change. I was pretty tired by now, I'd seen a lot but it was time to go home. I headed back to my private room and got a good night's sleep ready to head to Ancona to meet Emily. 

June 11

The train ride from Venice to Ancona to meet Emily was really nice. As both cities are on the coast the train followed the beach. It was a clear, warm day and seeing the beautiful white sand and beach umbrellas all laid out in a row did make me wish I could stop. The trip to Ancona was much less stressful, it was a nice, simple train ride. I met Emily there and wandered around for a bit, but there is really nothing to do there. We found a cafe, sat down and had a beer and I had the sudden realization that our ferry left at 8:30 not 10:30. It was a mad dash to the station to check in then needed to catch a €20 taxi 2 minutes up the road to get to the actual ferry. We made it and as soon as we were on they lifted the gate. The ferry ride wasn't too bad. It was an overnight ferry and being poor, traveling students we bought regular seats, rather than a sleeper. Thankfully it was a fairly empty ride so we were able to lie down on the floor of the seats. I think I got a few hours sleep since I'd been training for this for months now, but Emily most definitely did not. 

We got to Split, Croatia at 7:30 am. We found the hostel painlessly and then sat on the 'beach' for about 4 hours. Though when I say beach you have the choice of lying on either cement, dirt or grass. We chose the grass. after we checked in we walked around the old town, through Diocletian's Palace, an old ancient Roman ruin and had some lunch with a girl we met there called Ash. Also staying at our hostel was a guy called Matt, who amazingly enough is from Newcastle.

Split, Croatia

That evening Emily, Ash and Matt went and watched some guys play this game where you juggle a tennis ball with your hands on the beach in waist deep water. It looked ridiculously simply but also really fun and challenging. We found a bar, had a few sneaky beverages and watched the football.

On Sunday Emily Ash and I caught a ferry to a nearby island called Supetar, (like avatar but better?). It was really nice there, still no sand on the beaches, just nice looking rocks or cement. But we hired a paddle boat which had a slide on it and paddled around for a bit. We had a swim out in the water and of course slid on the slide. After we came ashore we found a nearby hotel and helped ourselves to their pool, swam in it for a bit and relaxed by it. All the while some of the staff were performing dances to whatever songs came over the loudspeaker. They weren't very advanced but still fun to watch. We came back and had a rushed dinner at Ladybird's (the hostel owner) friend's restaraunt again. Em and I had to rush off to catch our ferry, you would have thought we'd learn but no. Again, we were the last two on it. This was another overnight ferry and is pretty much the same story as the trip over. However, this time we discover the duty free shop and, unlike the duty free shops that you see going in and out of Australian airports, this one actually had really, really cheap stuff. We bought a bottle of Jager for about €8 and some €12 rum. Insane prices. I think I like this place

Rome: The Colosseum

The next morning we then missed the next train to Rome by about 5 minutes. It was so frustrating but we made it there eventually. The first thing we did after dropping our bags at the hostel was hit up the Colosseum. Such an incredible building. So old and such history there. I think it was Emily who made the comment which can apply to all ancient ruins, at which point do they stop being ruins and rubble and become fascinating history and tourist attractions? Rick Steve recommended we take a guided tour of the Colosseum, which was well worth it.

And part of this tour was a tour of Palatine Hill. So naturally, after seeing the Colosseum we tried to do the second part of our tour of Palatine Hill but couldn't find the tour guide and they wouldn't let us in without him. So we walked up to the Pantheon, found a cute little place for dinner and headed to the hostel. But not before searching and asking for where the Italy world cup game was being shown by FIFA on the big screen, no one knew so we just watched it at a restaurant in Piazza Navonna.

The following day we decided to try our luck at Palatine Hill again. But first we went via the Spanish Steps and he Trevi Fountain. While at the Spanish Steps it began to rain a little so we then had to dodge all the immigrants trying to sell us umbrellas. Yesterday it was sunny so they were selling sun umbrellas, they are efficient I'll give them that. It fined up at the fountain and of course we threw a coin over our shoulder to ensure our return to this magnificent city. We then moved back over to the ancient centre to complete our Caesar Shuffle (courtesy of our trusty guide Rick Steve) and joined the tour we were meant to be on yesterday which was such a relief. He took us up the hill and gave us a good view of the Roman Forum which we then went down to and walked through ourselves, guided by Rick Steve of course. After this the sun came out so we headed back to the Spanish Steps where there were actually people sitting on. Some guy tried to get me to do the string on the finger thing but didn't get me this time. By now we felt we had actually done everything we wanted to in Rome. Em suggested we see this church called Cappuchin Crypt, which was decorated by the bones of about 4000 monks. We couldn't take photos but got a few postcards because it was pretty incredible. Very creepy though.

Trevi Fountain: We'll be back!

Wednesday, my last day in Rome, I left Emily and had a day in Vatican City. I had my Rick Steves so I started my own tour with him. The line was remarkably short, as most of the tourists were in St Peter's Square watching the Pope give an address. It would have been cool to see but didn't have the time to stand in queues. Even though the Vatican museum is a must see, I did kinda feel that it was just another museum, maybe that's just because I'd been to so many in the last 2 months. Having Rick Steve explaining things along the way definitely made it a lot better because I knew the best things to look for and what they meant. As expected the tour climaxed through Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. It's really amazing but was a lot smaller than I imagined it would be. I'm happy I got one good photo of it though, and even happier that the one good one is of the creation of Adam and surrounding frames. Rick suggested a shortcut to St Peter's Square but it wasn't open, so I took the long march back and got there just as the pope was finishing. I just saw him on the big screen then he was gone. Now St Peters, this church is just amazing. It is absolutely huge and ornate and seems to go on forever. Around the top of the church near the ceiling is a gold band with writing in it, those letters are 7 feet high. I'm sure this is no surprise but it really was the most impressive church that I have seen in Europe... And I've seen a lot. I must have spent about 45 minutes in there just walking around taking it all in. Afterwards I met Emiily back in the square and we had some lunch and kinda just walked around for a bit. We went to the store and bought a bottle of wine for dinner. After that was gone we went and got another bottle and drank it on my bed and watched some football. 

Thursday morning, the 17th was possibly one of the scariest days of my trip so far. I got the time of our flight wrong by 40 minutes (again? Seriously?). We got to the train station and missed a train to the airport by about 2 minutes. It was then that we realized what time we needed to be there. We ended up having to catch a 70€ cab which I beleieve the cabbie turned into a €100 cab with a quick switch. But we got there in time. For our 11am flight we checked in at about 10:30 and get this, we weren't even the last ones to do so. As we were walking toward the gate a few girls stormed past in a mad rush looking for a plane to Athens, so we jumped on the running bandwagon too. It turned out that our plane was delayed for an hour too. Lucky break.
But the fun didn't stop there. Upon our arrival in Athens we learned that the public transport system was on strike. Luckily for us it ended at 5, only 2 hours after we got there. We finally got ourselves to the hostel, got ourselves settled and found some dinner. It was the best way to end the day, it was a lovely sit down meal and was cheap too. We also were picking up on the Greeks' love affair with wine. Free wine is very common with a meal in Greek restaurants, and being povo students we were quite happy about this. We settled in for the night, with protests in the background, ready for our next adventure on a 7-day cruise of the Mediterranean.  

Time to Relax: Lake District

In the weeks leading up to our little Lake District holiday there were discussions about having too many people in the holiday house we had rented out. Chris emailed them and they said that we would be kicked out if we were caught with more than the allowed four. We had 9. The discussion ended up being the laissez-faire Aussies vs those that don't normally do this thing. It ended up being fine, as I knew it would, because as if they were ever going to come check on us.

29th - The trip started out on the wrong foot as we got on the wrong train. But we just got there a little bit later than we planned. When we got there it was pouring, we trudged through the streets of Ambleside for about half an hour or so. I had my massive suitcase because not worried about the weight or size restrictions of aircrafts I packed my doona and pillow into it which was actually quite heavier than I anticipated. We found the place and the house was gorgeous, just like the entire town was. Small houses made of stone along cobbled streets.
The first night Chris and I cooked tea and then we all watched euovision. As it was cold I made banana tea for everyone - imported especially from Istanbul. Eurovision was actually quite entertaining, or at least we made it entertaining. However, the voting process just was way too long for us. We watched it for a good 3 hours or so but it just kept going, all the countries just vote for the countries that they are closest too and for those like England that aren't as European or close relationshipally always miss out. At least generally speaking, but the best act most definitely did not win.



30th - In the morning Chris found a reletively short hike for us which was really nice. It only lasted a few hours but was really hilly so we were all stuffed after it. As bodies of water seem to be a novelty for North Americans Chris and Evan felt the need
 We came back and watched Lord of the Rings for two reasons; in honour of Amber being New Zealandish and knowing barely anything about the movies, and since there were 9 people on our hike we named ourselves the fellowship of the ring. I was Legolas. While we were watching this Evan and mitch went fishing with their £5 fishing rods. They didn't have bait and when they asked near the river the guy replied 'there ain't no fish around here mate'. So he bought a scone and used that. Much to our dismay, shock and horror they didn't catch a thing, but bought fish sticks on the way home which I threw to him so they could say they caught it.


31st - That day we lost Mitch and Emma and were joined for the day instead by Katie and Emily. Mitch had an exam on the 2nd and I don't know what Emma's reason was. But it was good that Katie and Emily could join us, enjoyed hanging out with them some more as our time in Leeds was coming to a close. Chris Anastasia, Amber, Evan and I met them down at Bowness near the lake. We hired a row boat and rowed around the lake for 2 hours, it was just lovely and very picturesque. Evan Chris Ana and I all shared the rowing.

That night amber made her amazing curry and we did the rounds of a few bars. In the morning we left as it was rainy and not real pleasant. We had planned to do another hike but as it the weather was awful, and I had a million and one things to get done in the next few days before Summer Ball I didn't mind too much.

Last Week in Leeds

There are so many things I can't believe right now. My time in Leeds over. The friends I've made I won't be seeing every day. I also can't believe I'm already in Poland, starting a 5 week trip around Europe. It's a bit ridiculous. Since getting back to Leeds after lake district it was pretty well go go go. We got back in the afternoon on Tuesday, Evan's birthday. We went to the Eldon to celebrate which worked out perfectly as it just so happened to be our Tuesday night there.

Wednesday was organising day. Well, a bit. I Skyped the parents and worked out how I was getting home and then met Amber in town to look for some shoes as my globes from home were dying. The afternoon was spent packing and getting my room ready for my departure. That night we met Kayt's parents at Balti King after which we went to Gatecrasher...finally. I don't know how many Times I'd promised Emma I would go. I tell you what though, I would hate to be a hot girl in one of those places, always getting hit on by drunk guys, I'd say some love it though. Most of us left about 1:30 but Mitch, Amber, Faye and I stayed til about 2:30. It was awesome, I almost left with everyone else but last minute changed my mind and as I did the good music started. We're talking classic and indie rock rather than that rubbish top 40 crap club music.

So I got to sleep about 3:30 and set the alarm for 8 to pick up Chantelle from the train station. Yay for sleep. It was a really nice day, the sun was out and it was warm. I took her through the markets and Victoria quarter and up through Millennium Square. Had a coffee at Opposite Cafe (Opposite the uni) then met Evan at the Eldon for lunch. Not long after, the others joined. We then sat in Hyde park for a bit and went home to meet Evan (Flett) and Steve.

Friday: the most hectic day I had in Leeds by a big margin. I set the alarm early to go meet Emily at her place to finish booking our trip. I came home and got ready for some company to pick up my luggage. Once that was done I felt a lot less tense. I walked downtown and met Chris on the way and bought some stuff for the night. People started arriving at North Hill about 4:30, at which point I will still packing up my life. I needed my room to be cleared out by the time we left at 6:30. The evening was really cool, we had champagne and took some nice photo's of us all looking hot. All the girls looked so gorgeous as you can imagine. Chris did a great slideshow of the semester which of course cannot go close to capture all the memories we've created. We finished on a high with Chris and my 'band' A Common Wealth playing Yellow by Coldplay and then an encore was demanded so we threw together a mashup of Journey's Don't Stop Believing and Ke$ha's Tik Tok - two of our theme songs.

At Summer Ball there really isn't a lot to say except that it was practically a small music festival. We had a ride, bought some beers and Jager, and danced to the DJ. The second last band ended and at 1:45 and we had to wait and hour and a half for Florence to come out. The crowd was SO pissed, seriously, every new song the DJ played everyone started booing. She was really good though, but it was so hot up the front after waiting for so long so Ana, Amber and I didn't stay long. We got a drink and moved back to the side.

The night ended smoothly, we got a coach quickly and got back to anas to get our stuff. The taxi pulled up and we said our goodbyes. It was just like something out of a movie. It was so sad, many a tear was shed, I'm going to miss our little group an incredible amount.