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.

Amsterdam - The Unending Lava Days

April 17

So today was meant to be the day I went home. My flight was due to leave Brussels at 10, Scott and Amy were meant to meet me at the train station, we were all meant to then go to a football match then have dinner and I would catch a train home in time for the Oztley run organized for Dan's presence in the country. None of this became a reality. The Oztley run has been postponed, Dan will miss it and a bunch of my friends are still stuck around various parts of Europe.

It was a massive mish to actually get to the hostel. At Amsterdam Central Station I couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket to where I wanted. After about half an hour of looking purposely confused and no one approaching me to help, I finally asked someone. It was a 20 min metro ride out of the city and had to wait about half an hour under a bridge for the hostel shuttle that I wasn't convinced was coming...yeah not sketchy at all.
So I got to 'Lucky Lake Hostel' at about 4 and was absolutely amazed with it. It's a caravan park, but it's a hostel. Since I was here on my own I also made a point of talking to people. I met these 2 gay guys from Alaska who are a bit hilarious. They overuse the words "right" and "totally" all the time, it's so American.

Not much actually happened today, I pretty much spent the day relaxing. I went for a walk to the lake (!), read on the hammock, and after my 2 cheese toasties for dinner I just hung around the common area chatting wih the people who came and went, mostly other staff who were off duty as they all live on site. All of whom were smoking weed, hey it's Amsterdam, would you expect any less?
The thing I love about this hostel is it reminds me of home a bit. The cool, brisk air feels like when you wake up camping in spring, the sun is out but it's a bit cold. But you don't mind because it's going to be a warm day. I had leftovers of a chap called Laurie and Irish Rob made me a hot dog. Seriously, how good is the hostel culture of some places!

April 18

So today I actually went in to town. I started with the New Europe walking tour starting at Dam square, first stop: The Red Light District, which was originally developed around the Old Church (Oude Kerk). Outside the church there was this hilarious hand on boob statue/plaque on the ground. Apparently the city it removed it at one point and the locals got upset so they put it back! The tour then went on to the oldest Buddhist temple in Europe, completed in 2000! Onward past the Niewe Kerk (New Church), Begijnhof (which is a well-preserved sanctuary for Cathlic nun-like women), the Dampkring (New Europe's favourite coffee shop) and ended at the Anne Frank House Museum. After the tour, since I had nothing better to do and no one to meet I had lunch with the guide and others from the tour and this dish sausage and mashed potato dish. I met a girl called Shannon who is being a nanny in Paris and enjoyed talking with the guide who was from Brisbane. Yay! A familiar accent! I had a pretty chilled out night - just relaxed at the hostel (something most people there are used to) and just chatted with everyone. Had an easy dinner then laid on the hammock for ages before bed. But not before checking my current adventure status.

At this time I was still tossing up whether or not to try and get a train home, just wait for a flight, or make my way literally from one side of the continent to the other for Anzac Day in Gallipoli. I have a flight to catch Saturday morning from London to Istanbul but that's another story right there!

"Serbia is practically a suburb or Turkey, we can walk from there!"

April 19

The ash cloud saga continues! After breakfast I got back on that hammock for quite a while, it's seriously the best thing ever.I spoke to mum and dad on the phone for about 25 mins, thankfully they paid for it and we decided to wait to go back to London. After this I went in to town, walked around a bit but didn't see or do much. After the walking tour there really wasn't a whole lot of sights left to see. So I just took in the culture. I made some tea and relaxed some more - an increasing trend which I am enjoying more and more here. I've been reading the news and they are hoping to open some of the airspace tomorow so I'm hopeful I'll get home and back out to Turkey.

April 20

Due to the reletively unsuccessful nature of my trip in to town yesterday, I decided to have a relaxing day at the hostel. I had a book and I had my iPod and I had a hammock and the days were sunny - what more c ould I want? At some point during the day I hired a bike from the hostel and rode to this nearby town called Abcoude. I had to ride along the highway and the cross over on a bridge but was worth it. This tiny town was really cool and had a population of only about 6400. I explored the town, saw some small churches then rode through it to a park on a small lake where I ate a picnic lunch. Came back a few hours later and the rest of the afternoon was my own!

April 21

Success! I checked my British Airways flight this morning and to my surprise it had not been cancelled. T his was very good news. I was scheduled on a flight back to London tomorrow afternoon, but this turned out to be a much larger task than I first envisaged. But we'll get to that. I ambled back in to town the only way I knew how...slowly and made my way to the Heineken brewery by 1pm. This was by far the coolest brewery I'd been to, and I'd been to a few. It started off with a history of the beer of course including labels, bottle shapes and significant people then showed us a replica of what the vats in a factory would look like with people giving out sample of what it tastes like at each stage. We then moved into a modern looking room where a guy taught us all how to drink a Heineken properly, but what I was thinking was "free beer!" After this there was an interactive video where we were taken on a journey from

the perspective of the ingredients from start to finish of the brewing process. This including a slight spraying, extreme heat and a rocking floor - very cool! The last thing was they had all these pods for you to lay in and watch their ads over the years and then of course, ended in the bar.

After the brewery I walked over the Anne Frank House and was going to go in but decided not to. Why you ask? Well..... I was really tired, and it had been an expensive day already and there was a really long line and I thought I was going to come back with Mitch, Evan and Steve (which I didn't). Yeah maybe I should have just gone in.

When I got back to the hostel I took some photos of the most amazing hostel I'd ever stayed in and started saying goodbyes and thankyous to all the staff who had all been so friendly and helpful over the past 5 days. As I was only booking one night at a time my bed had been taken for this night, so I decided to treat my self to a caravan which was double the price (still only €37 but you know...). It was really cute and cosy and loved having my own room for the last night of my wild adventure riding the magma. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.

April 22

Today I checked out of the best hostel in the world and began my long journey home to Leeds. This included the hostel shuttle to the metro station - train to Amsterdam Central - train to Brussels - train to Brussels airport - plane to London - 2 underground trains to Kings Cross to get a train to Leeds and finally, a cab to the Eldon where Kayt, Emma, Mitch and Evan were waiting for the winner of the Amazing Race! This is because Ana/Amber and Chris/Josh were also coming back today from their volcano extended adventures. Ana and Amber got stranded in Greece - when their flights were cancelled they got a ferry to Crete indefinitely,

and as for Chris and Josh they got a bus to Copenhagen... yeah this volcano really ruined everything didn't it...

As Team Number 1 in the Amazing Race my prize was a celebratory Irish Car Bomb with Mitch and Evan. Half a pint of Guinness with a shot of Baileys in it and then bomb a shot of whiskey, so good! We walked home later that night for one nights sleep before heading off the next adventure with Kayt: Anzac Day adventures in Turkey!

Alone in Brussels

They say the early bird gets the worm but all I got was a flight. This was another tiring day as it involved a ton of walking on 4 hours sleep. The Grand Place seemed like the obvious first stop which was honestly a bit meh. Sure it was good architecture and all that but it's all just starting to mould in to the one memory now. Next stop was lunch to form some kind of a game plan, at which point I decided the the Maneken Pis should be next. The statue is quite hilarious. It's a little kid taking leak (and it's a fountain). It's also smaller than you'd expect (that's what she said), but still definitely worth seeing.

I then followed the map to La Chappelle, Place du Grand Sablon and the Palais Royal. Opposite the palance is the Brussels Park which I walked through to Federal Parliament. Soon enough I was back in the city centre where I had my first Belgian waffle and oh my goodness it was that good. It's self service as well...or at least I think it was...none of the others seemed to be but the guy didn't stop me.

By Emma's recommendation I caught the metro to the Cantillon Brwery. It's a very grassroots, family owned brwery who brew gueuze and fruit beers or something. It tasted really good...but not like beer at all. I then came back and had a nap before going and cooking tea. It had been so long since I had actually been full

April 14 - The day I went to another country for the day: The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

But first we made a stop in a small town called Dinant. We shelled out an extra €7 to go up to this fortress and have a tour. It was a bit odd because the tour was given in both French and English. The guide didn't speak English too well but that's ok, until I can speak French fluently I can't complain. On the tour we saw... well I don't know, it wasn't that interesting. There were some old guns then this room that was on a 20 degree slant. So trippy. Apparently Adolphe Sax the inventor of the saxophone was from Dinant, and they claim it for all it is worth!

We got back on the bus and in another hour we arrived in Luxembourg City. The country itself only has about 400,000 people you can imagine the city will also be small... it was tiny. Katherine and Sandra (the girls I met) walked around for a bit while the older people had a 'cheap' meal. I bought some headphones as a souvenir as mine were breaking and our guide gave us a small tour. After that we had an hour of free time and after 20 minutes...we were done. Our guide found us sitting down and showed us a park/valley where I took some nice macro photos and then it was time to go home.

Luxembourg is really not worth going to except to tick off another country from 'the list'. However, it did make a good day trip and I made some new friends. The girls are both from California and are on exchange in Sussex. At night I invited them out for a drink and kind of accidentally took them to a football bar. I was drawn there with €1 drinks and luckily there was a DJ upstairs. I would have felt heaps bad just sitting there with the football on.

April 15

So, plan for the day: hire a bike and ride the suggested walking routes on my map. A very good plan if the machine accepted my card. So instead I caught the metro to the beginning of the European section tour. In hindsight it may have been difficult riding through an unfamiliar city full of cars but I'm sure I could have made it work.

It began underneath a glass skyscraper in a very poor section of the city. I walked through some markets and soon enough was in "the heart of Europe:" a roundabout, around which all the important EU buildings are. I walked through Parc du Cinquantenaire to another Arc du Triomphe lookalike and on to the European Union Parliament, which is a very impressive building. I tell you what too, it's so refreshing to see some modern looking buildings. The last three months has just been historical building after historical building, not that that's a bad thing though.

Next stop was the comic book museum...wait no, not yet, it's closed for lunch for another 20 minutes. Once in there I learnt that entry was €6, a bit steep I thought. After messaging Emma to see if it's worth it, and she said no I decided to do a Peter Durbin and sneak in for free. The lady at the desk was too busy collecting money from other suckers to notice one poor tourist sneaking past. About an hour in there more than wrapped it up and it was definitely not worth €6!

I then caught the train over to Brupark to see the Atomium, a model of an atom enlarged to 58 billion times its size. Unfortunately the security was much tighter here and I couldn't sneak in to anything. Of course by this stage I was stuffed and came back to the hostel and chilled out for a bit. Walked up the road for a quick feed and back to write this entry. During this time a Californian guy called Josh Choi came and introduced himself to me. He's traveling on his own is also stranded by the volcano.

April 16

The single most stressful and frustrating day of this trip. By now the only thing on the news and on Facebook is talk of the Icelandic volcano eruption yesterday that has sent a cloud of volcanic ash above the UK. I got a message from Scott the night before saying his flight had been cancelled and won't make the football match we had tickets to. At this stage my flight was still scheduled so I went off to Bruges hopeful that I could still get to the game and at least scalp their tickets or something.

Bruges is very picturesque. Every street is cobblestone and is lined with medieval houses. It's kind of one of those places that is famous and very touristy, but there's nothing to actually do there. I thought it was a bit boring but I think that's just because I on my own. I had a really map with the things to do on it. It took me to a museum or 2... one was pretty meh, but it only cost €1 so was a good time filler.

I got back around 5 and this is where it gets interesting. checked my flight status: cancelled. Crap, what do I do now? I was due to fly out in the morning. I'm madly asking anyone on Facebook what they about Eurotrains. I learnt that Eurostar had jacked up the price to £223, they're not silly.

I decided to walk up to the train station with Josh and see what I could learn there. Yeah...Eurostar trains to London sold out until the 18th. I then checked coaches, no dice. We got a kebab and walked through the red light district. After a stressful night I needed some fun. So Josh and I headed to Celtica bar and got lost. I maintain that if he just let me lead it would have been fine but I digress. We got there, got a cheap drink and sat down with these 2 guys who literally spoke as much English as I did French. It was awesome because I got to use all the basic French you use when meeting people. They were hilarious and almost sold Josh some pot. He wanted hash though...whatever. We moved to an ared called Delirium, it was very, very cool. It's this area of 6 bars, each specialising in a different drink and each were packed. We went to a beer one (with a selection of 20 odd), then a cocktail one, then absinthe bar. We also met this really hot Italian girl who Josh was shamelessly hitting on. She got our Facebooks but we'll never see her again.

I really wanted to get out of Brussels because there's nothing more to do there so I jumped on to trusy Hostelworld and booked a hostel in Amsterdam. In amongst all the chaos I also ran out of credit on my UK phone. When I tried to top up I realised I had no money in my UK bank account and Vodaphone only accept UK cards. So it was all happening.

German Adventure

8 April

"The Führer would be very disappointed" - Evan

Our first day in Munich began with the new Munich free walking tour, this tour was probably my favourite one I've done. For such a young country it has a lot history. It started in Marienplatz where we watched the Glockenspiel, a 15 minute "show" of figurines moving around the clock. The best part about it was listening to our guides slag it and telling us to watch the tourists hold their cameras waiting for something exciting as it's just bells for the first 6 minutes or so. We didn't even stay for the finale. Also In this square was the new and old city halls. Ironically, the old city hall was actually rebuilt more recently than the new city hall. Michael then took us to Frauhenkirche and told us the story if the devils footprint, however it ended anticlimactically as the footprint was just that of the architect.

The funniest thing I learnt on the tour was that during Oktoberfest, the Australian embassy moves from Berlin and rents out a small part of the British embassy in Munich for the 2 weeks. This is because in Germany the law says you need to carry ID with you all the time and so many Australians lose theirs (maybe due to slight inebriation) and you would need it to get to the embassy in Berlin. Aussie Aussie Aussie!

After the free tour the four of us walked to the English beer garden which was absolutely gorgeous. It's this massive park and in the centre is for some reason a Chinese tower and a beer garden. It was such a nice a warm day and I felt just like a local with my beer and white sausage. On the way back we stopped and had a lay in the park with he hundreds of others.
That night we embarked on the new Europe Beer Challenge. It was the first new europe pub crawl that I have actually thought was worth it. The Edinburgh one was pretty good, we got a fair amount of drinks included in that one. But this one was actually a tour as well. We went to four bars, one of which was the only beer and Oktoberfest museum in the world. Michael recommended good beers for us to try and told us a bit about it.
The tour started at the Munich main train station near our hostel, and our first beer was a roadie. It was so good catching the train and walking through the street with a beer in hand...legally. The next bar we had a wheat beer which was vey different but quite nice - I think it was a Paulaner. I've since decided wheat beer is the best. Then it was the museum, another one, then a quick walk through the hofbrauhaus before our last bar: the Euro Youth hotel bar. At the end of the night we were all awarded Beer Challange survivors membership cards, and Chris won the Beer Challenge or something by speaking in the most convincing Irish accent - since Michael was Irish. I met this novocastrian girl as well on the tour, the first one I'd met while being overseas, or at least the first I've really spoken to. She was from Eleebana so of course she knew all the landmarks round Belmont and that. She even knows where the Squids Ink was which I think was the most exciting thing.

9 April
Today was the day ventured into the Bavarian countryside and found a small dwelling commonly referred to as Neuschwanstein Castle. It is the castle that the Disney castle is modeled off in the Bavarian alps. The best bit about it for me was the fact there are these 2 castles on top of these hills out in the mountains. The insides of them, while impressive, was similar to all the other castles I've seen. Like Versailles. It's all very ridiculously intricately decorated and over the top. If it were me I totally would decorate it less because I reckon it would be really annoying to have every wall in my house so busy. You'd never sleep because there would be so much action happening on every wall and floor!

So inside the castle, for whatever reason, they don't allow photography. Not just flash photography but all photography. But there's an easy way around this...you just wait til the guide has left the room before taking your snaps. Easy. Or so you would think. I was just going about my business happily taking photos, I let my guard down and put the flash on because I couldn't get the shot. Some knob in our group (not an employee) pipes up and goes "oi, no photos" then gave me some speech about it ruins things or some crap. I totally disregarded it but at the same time made sure he had also left the room until I took some more. Right at the end he catches me taking one and yells out "OI!" but it was too late, I'd taken it and didn't care. What a douche.

That night we stayed at Regina's who is a friend of Yazmin's. Funny story - yes, another Yazmin gem. So Yazmin was traveling with Emily, they were meant to keep traveling and end up in France or something because they got mad cheap flights from there. But Yazmin got sick and wanted to hang around or go back to Leeds or something. Either way they split up in Munich and Emily decided to join us to Berlin, she found her own way there and we had a ridiculously early flight to catch. Instead of staying at the airport Regina (Yazmin's friend) invited us 3 to stay at her place...but Regina wasn't there with us. So effectively we stayed at a friend of a friends place, who didn't stay with us. She let 3 people stay at her place whom she had met the day before.

April 10 - what is it with Europeans and gigantic arse pillows
So Chris and I got up ridiculously early at Regina's, we set the alarm for 3:45 in the AM, which I think wasn't even early enough, that or we had the train timetable wrong because one didn't come in time so we caught a €50 taxi to the airport, because you know...that's just the kind of money we have to splash around. On the plane I fell asleep before takeoff. We met up with Stephen again at the hostel and met his friend Kevin and a whole bunch of other people in the hostel. This hostel is very different from all the others I've stayed at. It's very small and has a very personal feel. It's privately run by Arthur and is has a random theme of Hawaiian.

After settling in and a couple of coffees we set off to the Brandenburg gate, going via the Jewish new synagogue. From the gate we took the new Berlin 'Third Reich' tour, which was absolutely incredible. It was all about Germany during Hitler's reign from 1933-1945. It took us past us past the Reichstag (German Parliament) and plenty of WWII memories, including the Jewish Holocaust memorial which is a large square with thousands of stone blocks protruding the ground. It's purposefully ambiguous to leave it open to interpretation.

The tour then went past the site of the Führer's bunker where Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. It's now just an insignificant car park. Also on the tour was the Luftwaffe HQ, the only Nazi building not to be bombed in the bombing of Berlin and ended at a section of the Berlin wall.

After the tour ended we hit up Checkpoint Charlie, the checkpoint controlled by the US. This was probably the best tour I did in Berlin...maybe. It was so fascinating learning about Berlin and Hitler during the Nazi regime, so much so I spent a few hours that night reading Wikipedia articles on this and other related articles.

April 11

Today was the day for the free tour. Unfortunately it covered many of the same things as the Third Reich tour, but it did go into different details. It went to the Holocaust memorial, the carpark, Checkpoint Charlie, Book Burning memorial, Luftwaffe HQ and more. It culminated on the steps of the Berliner Dome with an epic tale about the day the wall came down.

We then met back up with Emily, Stephen and Kevin who were at museums and went into the Dome, which was of course incredible. We took a bit of a detoured walk back via the Rathaus (town hall) and the TV tower at Alexanderplatz. That night we chilled out in the room again and went to a wine bar where you only pay as much as you feel necessary. We hung out with a guy from the hostel called Arlan. He was a very interesting character who makes his own sidetrance "music" and believes UFO's are people the future trying to help us.

April 12

Our last day in Berlin began at the East Side Gallery: the longest section of the wall still preserved (1.3km) which has been painted. I took so many photos of them as they were all pretty amazing. This led into our third New Berlin Tour, the Red Berlin tour. This took us through what it was like living in Communist East Germany (DPR) between 1945 and 1989. We had this incredible guide from Bulgaria who escaped to the States 30 years ago. He told us stories of paranoia and of the Stasi spying on people and CIA spying on the Stasi. Chris and I went to the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, which I think has been bombed and not been rebuilt. Next to it was a Jewish synagogue. It's built as a square and inside the light shines through all these blue tiles. I loved it because it was something new and different.

By this time we were stuffed and headed back. Found a random Vietnamese restaurant with some people from the hostel and tried to have an early night but as usual failed miserably.

So that wraps up Germany off to Brussels now all on my lonesome. Chris is heading to Stockholm and Emily stayed on in Berlin because she's loving it. She ended up staying there for about 12 days because of our good friend the Icelandic volcano.