Hi,
So we have been home for 1 month now, and as crazy as it seems, I am going to write the blogs that were never written for my own personal keepsake. And because for some reason, people seem to still be visiting - perhaps in hope, that I actually do this - so here we are :-)
The last Blog was regarding Berlin. At the end of the trip, Berlin was a top 3 city for me and Ben & completely stole our heart. Along with New York & London - I will spend more time in Berlin one day - hopefully for a quite a bit of time. The blog was short & sweet, but my words will never do it justice. I love you Berlin. Keep changing.
After we almost a bit sadly left Berlin, we arrived in Amsterdam. Now I know this is where stories of being messed up & so forth are supposed to come into play, but Amsterdam is soo much more that a party town. And the tourists that seem to infiltrate it just to get messed up, are really missing the whole point.
In my opinion, Amsterdam is beautiful, and just about being able to be yourself. The freedom and liberation felt whilst in the city had nothing to do with getting messed up & banging hookers, and the locals are well aware of this. The only people you see vomiting in the streets or OD'ing off something they cant handle, or ogling at the escorts in the Red light district are the tacky ass tourists, the locals seem to smoke and drink, and enjoy life, in a sort of classy way.
They are the ones on their way home from work, casually having a joint on the way home, or meeting in the park with a group of friends for a picnic, or at the micro brewery trying out new beers. They are free to do what they want when they want it, and therefore it is not all about over indulgence, it's just life for them.
We Loved it.
Now that of course is not to say we didnt go to the Red Light District and gaze around wanderously, or partake in any of Amsterdams other offerings, but I'd like to think we kept it classy, just a little bit, and blended in a bit more than the atypical tourist. After all - we did stay on a boat!
That'll do for now :-)
To be continued...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
I love Berlin
full stop...or three
Berlin completely captured our hearts, and we were very sad to leave. For a place with such a bleak history, It is liberal, and friendly, and ahead of the times.
We divided our time quite equally between the many histrioc monment around during the day, and exploring the famous berlin nightlife in the evenings.
I am not actually going to write about this much as I really do not feel like I can put it l into words at the moment, bt between Karneval, 60c beers, checkpoint charlie & the east Side gallery, the Upside down bar & the rock papper sissors brige, there was so much character that "Only in Berlin" seemed the appropriate catchphrase of the week.
It is what Melbourne should be workng towards imo. It is arty, cultural, individual, free and open. Really quite inspirational considering the wall only fell in '89.
Leaving it at that. We will definitely return. Hopefully with Bens guitar in hand.
Berlin completely captured our hearts, and we were very sad to leave. For a place with such a bleak history, It is liberal, and friendly, and ahead of the times.
We divided our time quite equally between the many histrioc monment around during the day, and exploring the famous berlin nightlife in the evenings.
I am not actually going to write about this much as I really do not feel like I can put it l into words at the moment, bt between Karneval, 60c beers, checkpoint charlie & the east Side gallery, the Upside down bar & the rock papper sissors brige, there was so much character that "Only in Berlin" seemed the appropriate catchphrase of the week.
It is what Melbourne should be workng towards imo. It is arty, cultural, individual, free and open. Really quite inspirational considering the wall only fell in '89.
Leaving it at that. We will definitely return. Hopefully with Bens guitar in hand.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Italy, a summary
So incase anyone hasnt noticed...we havent blogged much recently. I managed to break our brand new laptop...and now have to wait to get home to fix it, so the blogs are scarce. Anyway. It is time for an update...
We have been in Italy still since last update. Today is our last day here. From Firenze where i left off, we headed to Assisi. (I'm actually posting this some week later...)
Assisi is a stunningly beautiful town set on a hill with tiny streets zig zagging their way up the mountain. It is small and packed with character and has a very stunning (and free) church. Where the remains of St Frances are held. We got our true backpacker on here, as the station was a 3km hike from where we stayed,and was in the dirt and fields we went.
From there we went to the eternal city of Rome. Rome is utterly breathtaking. Its surprisingly small and walkable, but there's so much to see. I could write forever on Rome. Its a very welcoming city and we enjoyed every moment we had there. Around every corner theres a mammoth monument or ruins, just hangin out. It was what you expect in grandeur, and so much more. I think the big cities all have that feel. London, New York, Paris and Rome all give you a sense you're somewhere special.
Our next stop was the frenzied Napoli, the Scooters are piled high with anything up to 4 people, and road rules are completely obsolete. We stopped for a pizza, of course as it is the home of pizza & must say, although they are very basic, were delicious! We also made a day trip to Pompeii whilst in Napoli, and Ben very much enjoyed the amphitheatre from the Pink Floyd DVD.
From Napoli, was train ride up to Venezia. We stayed at a campsite 30min or so away, but got to spend 2 days just roaming the streets. Oddly enough it was mor beautiful on the day it was raining, as the water was a crystal blue in th smaller streets. It was also interesting as the rain had raised the water levels, and even St Marks Square was half under water! The Cathedral was unfortunately being worked on at the time, so we didnt quite get the full picture, but still an absolutely stunning square of architecture.
From Venezia it was 2 days in Bologna. Very pretty uni town and the home of....you guessed it bolognaise sauce & lasagne. We decided to splurge and head out for lunch, and ate ourselves silly. The food was amazing though and oddle enough the lasagne reminded me of the one nan bonanni used to make. Made me wonder if Pa had trained her in his Italian ways.
Then it was to Como, which is simply stunning. From the moment we arrived we were relaxed. We prety much just spent the 2 days walking through the old town, around the lake, and enjoying the views. Found an english bookstore so spent an afternoon reading, and another eating gelati watching the sunset. Como is definately one to remember.
Next and last Italy stop is Milan. The main drawcards here are Da Vinci's "Last Supper" which we didnt make it to and the mammoth Gothic Duomo. We were going to head town to the last supper, but read that it was notoriously difficult to get into and we only had the 1 day so we headed down to the main square instead. We were there the day before the Champions League final & as Inter Milan ( I think...) has made it they were getting ready to party. Big screens were set up & we had seen the images of only a few days before when they won to get in and knew what the square would look like very shortly. Whether they won or lost, I don't think it would have been th place for me. That night we met some English Lads ( Southampton specifically - which they don't blame us for missing) and had a few beverages before we caught our very early train to Berlin the next morning.
Italy as a whole was a place we both absolutely loved, and we feel like we have only just scratched the surface of what we want to do there. The food was incredible, we understood parts of the language, and the scenery along the journey was amazing.
I'll try and catch up the rest!
Love xxx
We have been in Italy still since last update. Today is our last day here. From Firenze where i left off, we headed to Assisi. (I'm actually posting this some week later...)
Assisi is a stunningly beautiful town set on a hill with tiny streets zig zagging their way up the mountain. It is small and packed with character and has a very stunning (and free) church. Where the remains of St Frances are held. We got our true backpacker on here, as the station was a 3km hike from where we stayed,and was in the dirt and fields we went.
From there we went to the eternal city of Rome. Rome is utterly breathtaking. Its surprisingly small and walkable, but there's so much to see. I could write forever on Rome. Its a very welcoming city and we enjoyed every moment we had there. Around every corner theres a mammoth monument or ruins, just hangin out. It was what you expect in grandeur, and so much more. I think the big cities all have that feel. London, New York, Paris and Rome all give you a sense you're somewhere special.
Our next stop was the frenzied Napoli, the Scooters are piled high with anything up to 4 people, and road rules are completely obsolete. We stopped for a pizza, of course as it is the home of pizza & must say, although they are very basic, were delicious! We also made a day trip to Pompeii whilst in Napoli, and Ben very much enjoyed the amphitheatre from the Pink Floyd DVD.
From Napoli, was train ride up to Venezia. We stayed at a campsite 30min or so away, but got to spend 2 days just roaming the streets. Oddly enough it was mor beautiful on the day it was raining, as the water was a crystal blue in th smaller streets. It was also interesting as the rain had raised the water levels, and even St Marks Square was half under water! The Cathedral was unfortunately being worked on at the time, so we didnt quite get the full picture, but still an absolutely stunning square of architecture.
From Venezia it was 2 days in Bologna. Very pretty uni town and the home of....you guessed it bolognaise sauce & lasagne. We decided to splurge and head out for lunch, and ate ourselves silly. The food was amazing though and oddle enough the lasagne reminded me of the one nan bonanni used to make. Made me wonder if Pa had trained her in his Italian ways.
Then it was to Como, which is simply stunning. From the moment we arrived we were relaxed. We prety much just spent the 2 days walking through the old town, around the lake, and enjoying the views. Found an english bookstore so spent an afternoon reading, and another eating gelati watching the sunset. Como is definately one to remember.
Next and last Italy stop is Milan. The main drawcards here are Da Vinci's "Last Supper" which we didnt make it to and the mammoth Gothic Duomo. We were going to head town to the last supper, but read that it was notoriously difficult to get into and we only had the 1 day so we headed down to the main square instead. We were there the day before the Champions League final & as Inter Milan ( I think...) has made it they were getting ready to party. Big screens were set up & we had seen the images of only a few days before when they won to get in and knew what the square would look like very shortly. Whether they won or lost, I don't think it would have been th place for me. That night we met some English Lads ( Southampton specifically - which they don't blame us for missing) and had a few beverages before we caught our very early train to Berlin the next morning.
Italy as a whole was a place we both absolutely loved, and we feel like we have only just scratched the surface of what we want to do there. The food was incredible, we understood parts of the language, and the scenery along the journey was amazing.
I'll try and catch up the rest!
Love xxx
Friday, May 7, 2010
Florence
I’m very pleased to say we have found that getting around Italy and Europe extremely easy with our Eurail passes, so we arrived in Florence, happy & distressed.
I personally had a very different image to Florence that what we saw, which was magical nonetheless. I was expecting it to be very...pretty. Instead i found it to be really energetic, packed with people, and markets, and people, and people, and people.
It was packed. We wandered around the markets and i nearly splurged a few times, but was restrained. We walked along the water, up to the Ponte Vecchio which was the only bridge in Florence to survive WW2 still with its jewellers on either side to this day. We spent time trying to take in the enormity that is the Il Duomo and of course made the trip...and the wait to see Michelangelo’s David.
We saw 2 of the 3 David’s in Florence. There is the original, which is now in the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno. Then there is a replica where the original David stood in the Plaza, then there is another Bronze replica up the mountain, We were going to head up there as it boasts the best views of Florence, but it started raining and Ben was not feeling well so we headed home.
Overall Florence was a very interesting experience. We don’t have any pictures of David as they are prohibited, but it really is beautiful. I am not usually big on sculpture, but it really is just perfect. The detail that goes into it is amazing, from the veins in the hands and neck, to the muscles , to think that it was all carved from the one piece of stone...anyway it was well worth the measly 6 euro admission price. The streets were crazy and we found some really cool things as well. The love locks all locked along the river were really sweet and the fact that we found a whole market dedicated to Italian leather was interesting too.
Was a fun few days.
I personally had a very different image to Florence that what we saw, which was magical nonetheless. I was expecting it to be very...pretty. Instead i found it to be really energetic, packed with people, and markets, and people, and people, and people.
It was packed. We wandered around the markets and i nearly splurged a few times, but was restrained. We walked along the water, up to the Ponte Vecchio which was the only bridge in Florence to survive WW2 still with its jewellers on either side to this day. We spent time trying to take in the enormity that is the Il Duomo and of course made the trip...and the wait to see Michelangelo’s David.
We saw 2 of the 3 David’s in Florence. There is the original, which is now in the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno. Then there is a replica where the original David stood in the Plaza, then there is another Bronze replica up the mountain, We were going to head up there as it boasts the best views of Florence, but it started raining and Ben was not feeling well so we headed home.
Overall Florence was a very interesting experience. We don’t have any pictures of David as they are prohibited, but it really is beautiful. I am not usually big on sculpture, but it really is just perfect. The detail that goes into it is amazing, from the veins in the hands and neck, to the muscles , to think that it was all carved from the one piece of stone...anyway it was well worth the measly 6 euro admission price. The streets were crazy and we found some really cool things as well. The love locks all locked along the river were really sweet and the fact that we found a whole market dedicated to Italian leather was interesting too.
Was a fun few days.
Pisa
Pisa was our first couchsurfing experience. Couchsurfing is a website/group that essentially helps people get to know each other & move around the world by crashing on someones couch, you have to apply to them after reading their profile & deciding on a place you would like to stay, and then they can say yes or no, luckily for us Gala was the first of these to say yes.
We had only really decided to come to Pisa for the tower, and knew little else, apart from the fact that it’s a uni town. Galas house is a student house. There are 5 of them and they are all absolutely wonderful, unique people. They reminded me alot of some friends at home. They are all extremely intelligent, kind, funny... hippies essentially.
I don’t think I can cover all that they showed us, but they, along with some older housemates that are always still around showed us an amazing time in Pisa and we really got a feel for what life there is about. Drinking in the streets is fine and there are squares around town where they all meet up to do so, people bring down instruments & jam in the streets, whilst everyone hangs around, sings and has a great time. The second night we went out for a gig with them in an old converted church, had a few beers. Chilled out. They definitely gave us a unique Pisa experience and we loved it! It was sad to say goodbye.
We did of course do the tower also, and just like everything else it was being worked on when we got there, but still, it really is just one of those things you need to do!
I’ll leave it there on Pisa, but we had a great tine & made awesome memories, and hopefully some good friends too
We had only really decided to come to Pisa for the tower, and knew little else, apart from the fact that it’s a uni town. Galas house is a student house. There are 5 of them and they are all absolutely wonderful, unique people. They reminded me alot of some friends at home. They are all extremely intelligent, kind, funny... hippies essentially.
I don’t think I can cover all that they showed us, but they, along with some older housemates that are always still around showed us an amazing time in Pisa and we really got a feel for what life there is about. Drinking in the streets is fine and there are squares around town where they all meet up to do so, people bring down instruments & jam in the streets, whilst everyone hangs around, sings and has a great time. The second night we went out for a gig with them in an old converted church, had a few beers. Chilled out. They definitely gave us a unique Pisa experience and we loved it! It was sad to say goodbye.
We did of course do the tower also, and just like everything else it was being worked on when we got there, but still, it really is just one of those things you need to do!
I’ll leave it there on Pisa, but we had a great tine & made awesome memories, and hopefully some good friends too
Monday, May 3, 2010
NICE
After Paris, we all caught our overnight train down to Nice, as easy as this may sound, as the decision was made hastily by the others to join us, all was not as organised as we perhaps would normally have it, and in the mix-up the train was booked for the wrong month. Luckily after some pleading the lovely French man let them on the train anyway as it was not sold out.
We were very lucky in Nice with where we were staying, as we were 4 we were able to book an apartment 10 min walk from the beach and in the town centre. We hadn’t had much planned for Nice as we wanted it to be about relaxation & the beach, but our contact for the apartment Frederic was amazing & filled us in on a few great tips including 1euro bus trips to Monaco-Monte Carlo
We spent most of our days strolling the town, window shopping & relaxing on the beach, once we got used to how to of course. The beach was a very new experience for us...it was a cobblestone beach. The stones are quite large and although all the locals seem to have the hang of it, we were all making quite the fool of ourselves oohing & ouching our way into the water, and from there it only got harder. You have the option of swimming, or staying out. Wading in the cobblestone water is very difficult as your footing is constantly challenged with the movement ^ it can become quite painful. I think the Europeans must have tougher feet – or better balance, something up on us either way.
While Benny & I practiced our sun smarts, Blairy decided he would be fine without & it was quite amusing for a day or so as he had a really red belly & legs. To our dismay though, he did tan & not peel, bastard!
The beach area is full of shops & cafe’s and i think we did fairly well to eat as much French food as possible and fit in our daily glass of wine (however long it took to get the cork out without a corkscrew)
Our day trip to Monaco was something else, it is an absolutely stunning city, and we thank Chris for telling us to go. We “hiked” to the top of the hill and took in the breathtaking views then worked our way down, around the bay, through the GP course, and the pits, and out to the casino & park on the other side. We were very lucky in some ways that they were setting up for the GP as we got to do some things I think were fairly unique. We got to go through all the old GP cars some dating back to the 30’s as they were having races with the older ones in the week leading up to the F1 GP. We also got to walk through the pits which was really cool as it already had the names of the spaces & so forth, and we got to walk out onto the “world’s most famous hairpin” I actually wasn’t that sure of the title, but I’m sure it has merit.
With the good though comes the bad, and i think we missed out on the beauty in some ways as everything had the stands up & the park had portaloos everywhere and such, regardless though it was amazing.
Our last night in Nice, our last day in France we decided we had to have some real champagne. I have never actually drunk champagne before & it was definitely nice to do so in Nice, not to mention it was quite a bit cheaper than home!
So we finished up with a bit of class, Blair & Pippa shelled out on the Antipasti Platter & we enjoyed our champagne & wine & our last night together.
The next morning we said goodbye to Pippa, Blair & France & Hello Italy.
We were very lucky in Nice with where we were staying, as we were 4 we were able to book an apartment 10 min walk from the beach and in the town centre. We hadn’t had much planned for Nice as we wanted it to be about relaxation & the beach, but our contact for the apartment Frederic was amazing & filled us in on a few great tips including 1euro bus trips to Monaco-Monte Carlo
We spent most of our days strolling the town, window shopping & relaxing on the beach, once we got used to how to of course. The beach was a very new experience for us...it was a cobblestone beach. The stones are quite large and although all the locals seem to have the hang of it, we were all making quite the fool of ourselves oohing & ouching our way into the water, and from there it only got harder. You have the option of swimming, or staying out. Wading in the cobblestone water is very difficult as your footing is constantly challenged with the movement ^ it can become quite painful. I think the Europeans must have tougher feet – or better balance, something up on us either way.
While Benny & I practiced our sun smarts, Blairy decided he would be fine without & it was quite amusing for a day or so as he had a really red belly & legs. To our dismay though, he did tan & not peel, bastard!
The beach area is full of shops & cafe’s and i think we did fairly well to eat as much French food as possible and fit in our daily glass of wine (however long it took to get the cork out without a corkscrew)
Our day trip to Monaco was something else, it is an absolutely stunning city, and we thank Chris for telling us to go. We “hiked” to the top of the hill and took in the breathtaking views then worked our way down, around the bay, through the GP course, and the pits, and out to the casino & park on the other side. We were very lucky in some ways that they were setting up for the GP as we got to do some things I think were fairly unique. We got to go through all the old GP cars some dating back to the 30’s as they were having races with the older ones in the week leading up to the F1 GP. We also got to walk through the pits which was really cool as it already had the names of the spaces & so forth, and we got to walk out onto the “world’s most famous hairpin” I actually wasn’t that sure of the title, but I’m sure it has merit.
With the good though comes the bad, and i think we missed out on the beauty in some ways as everything had the stands up & the park had portaloos everywhere and such, regardless though it was amazing.
Our last night in Nice, our last day in France we decided we had to have some real champagne. I have never actually drunk champagne before & it was definitely nice to do so in Nice, not to mention it was quite a bit cheaper than home!
So we finished up with a bit of class, Blair & Pippa shelled out on the Antipasti Platter & we enjoyed our champagne & wine & our last night together.
The next morning we said goodbye to Pippa, Blair & France & Hello Italy.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Paris
Last time I blogged we were in Paris, but I hadn't said much about it. As we go on through Europe we are finding it harder and harder to find time to sit around & write the blogs, partly due to being so busy, partly due to where we are staying. So I will try and keep going, but they may become less detailed as I always seem to have a lot to catch up on!
The first few days in Paris it was just me & Ben. We were staying in a hotel north of the centre and had a wonderful room, complete with the opening windows and small balcony Paris style. It was ridiculously cleche, and we giggled about this as we stood out there eating our baguettes watching Parisian life go by...
The next 4 days we were joined by Bens mate Blair & his missus Pippa. It was so good to have people to hang out with & make bad jokes with, we really enjoyed having them there...in the end they joined us in Nice as well, but we have since parted ways & Blairs in Barcelona, Pippa in London & we are in Pisa...anyway
Paris is so jammed packed with things to see & famous landmarks that I wont go into detail on everything we did but over the 8 days we covered Notre Dame, Arc de t
Triomphe, the Louvre - which is free on Friday nights for Under 26's so get onto that! Moulin Rouge, Champs De Elysess, The Eiffel Tower, the Catacombes, saw Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde & Chopin's graves, we ate criossants & baguettes, drank wine & relaxed in the parks. It was Paris...what else is there to say.
I think the thing that got to me the most & will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life was the Catacombes, Just to be walking through passages made of millions of human bones was really surreal. Yet oddly I was not as freaked out by it as I thought I would be. But definitely something that everyone should do if they come to Paris, Thats my tip for the day.
Well I'll leave it at that for Paris, from a strange turn of events we can now upload photos again, so eventually I will get it all happening and add them onto the blogs. Otherwise facebook may be updated sooner.
Hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are!
Much love xxx
The first few days in Paris it was just me & Ben. We were staying in a hotel north of the centre and had a wonderful room, complete with the opening windows and small balcony Paris style. It was ridiculously cleche, and we giggled about this as we stood out there eating our baguettes watching Parisian life go by...
The next 4 days we were joined by Bens mate Blair & his missus Pippa. It was so good to have people to hang out with & make bad jokes with, we really enjoyed having them there...in the end they joined us in Nice as well, but we have since parted ways & Blairs in Barcelona, Pippa in London & we are in Pisa...anyway
Paris is so jammed packed with things to see & famous landmarks that I wont go into detail on everything we did but over the 8 days we covered Notre Dame, Arc de t
Triomphe, the Louvre - which is free on Friday nights for Under 26's so get onto that! Moulin Rouge, Champs De Elysess, The Eiffel Tower, the Catacombes, saw Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde & Chopin's graves, we ate criossants & baguettes, drank wine & relaxed in the parks. It was Paris...what else is there to say.
I think the thing that got to me the most & will be one of the most memorable experiences of my life was the Catacombes, Just to be walking through passages made of millions of human bones was really surreal. Yet oddly I was not as freaked out by it as I thought I would be. But definitely something that everyone should do if they come to Paris, Thats my tip for the day.
Well I'll leave it at that for Paris, from a strange turn of events we can now upload photos again, so eventually I will get it all happening and add them onto the blogs. Otherwise facebook may be updated sooner.
Hope everyone else is having as much fun as we are!
Much love xxx
Sunday, April 25, 2010
UK Roadtrip to an End - On to Paris
So...this is going to be the second time I write this, I spent a long time typing it all up on the mobile the other day only to have the net drop out & lose it all! GAH!
Anyho...
So we awoke ready for the short drive to Cardiff. Cardiff is a very beautiful city. We spent the day visiting the castle & the millenium stadium & hanging around the bay area. Everything was nice & pleasant, but nothing overly soectacular.
We were extremely facinated by the Welsh language though, and all of the street signs made for great amusement.
The next day we headed across for the drive to Swindon, we got to drive over the water between Wales & England, which I must say was quite amazing to do. Luckily theres only a toll on the road 1 way - not ours.
We stopped into Bath, which is stunning! We spent the morning wandering the parks and the cobblestone streets & got to check out the amazing architecture on the Roman Baths. We wandered through ine of the local markets too - which seems to have an abundance of history.
We continued the drive to Swindon & hit the sack. The morning in Swindon was lovely as well. Parks & whatnot. They have a very cool city centre park that we enjoyed, watching the birds & the ducks for a while it was nice to relax. It rekindled my relationship with Swindon as I was quite pissed off last time I was there, as we got lost!
The day itself was ours to kill, as we were sleeping in the car that night, and had not all that far to drive. We were much more prepared this time, and stayed in the services just outside of London - nice & warm, well fed, and with enough entertainment to get us through ( free wifi at the services = Family guy)
So the next morning we awoke, quite happy to be getting rid of the car & get back to our backpacker roots. The idea of having a car is always great, but after a while, worrying about Parking & the stress that comes with it, makes you look forward to the freedom again. We did receive a couple of parking tickets unfortunately, as I didnt realise even an unsigned section in a "controlled zone" had its rules. Mistake made & learnt from.
With the car dropped off & our packs back on in London, we were free to reinspect this lovely city. We dropped our packs back at the hostel & headed back to Abbey road as I decided I wanted a picture crossing. We went to Lords afterwards, and there was a county game, as it was the last day with only 1 wicket left the lovely guard let us in free! Score!
Quite to our surprise when we went in, the ground was open & as it was lunch we were welcome to stroll out onto the field. Benny got to inspect the wickets & check out the Pavillion at close range - still from outside though of course. It was actually quite sunny so once the game was underway again, we went into the stands to catch some rays for the last 5 balls of the match, and it was all over.
The evening was spent catching a quiet beer watching an acoustic set right near our hostel. The next morning we packed up all our stuff, said farewell to London & the English Language & it was time to Head for Paris. Wi wi!
Anyho...
So we awoke ready for the short drive to Cardiff. Cardiff is a very beautiful city. We spent the day visiting the castle & the millenium stadium & hanging around the bay area. Everything was nice & pleasant, but nothing overly soectacular.
We were extremely facinated by the Welsh language though, and all of the street signs made for great amusement.
The next day we headed across for the drive to Swindon, we got to drive over the water between Wales & England, which I must say was quite amazing to do. Luckily theres only a toll on the road 1 way - not ours.
We stopped into Bath, which is stunning! We spent the morning wandering the parks and the cobblestone streets & got to check out the amazing architecture on the Roman Baths. We wandered through ine of the local markets too - which seems to have an abundance of history.
We continued the drive to Swindon & hit the sack. The morning in Swindon was lovely as well. Parks & whatnot. They have a very cool city centre park that we enjoyed, watching the birds & the ducks for a while it was nice to relax. It rekindled my relationship with Swindon as I was quite pissed off last time I was there, as we got lost!
The day itself was ours to kill, as we were sleeping in the car that night, and had not all that far to drive. We were much more prepared this time, and stayed in the services just outside of London - nice & warm, well fed, and with enough entertainment to get us through ( free wifi at the services = Family guy)
So the next morning we awoke, quite happy to be getting rid of the car & get back to our backpacker roots. The idea of having a car is always great, but after a while, worrying about Parking & the stress that comes with it, makes you look forward to the freedom again. We did receive a couple of parking tickets unfortunately, as I didnt realise even an unsigned section in a "controlled zone" had its rules. Mistake made & learnt from.
With the car dropped off & our packs back on in London, we were free to reinspect this lovely city. We dropped our packs back at the hostel & headed back to Abbey road as I decided I wanted a picture crossing. We went to Lords afterwards, and there was a county game, as it was the last day with only 1 wicket left the lovely guard let us in free! Score!
Quite to our surprise when we went in, the ground was open & as it was lunch we were welcome to stroll out onto the field. Benny got to inspect the wickets & check out the Pavillion at close range - still from outside though of course. It was actually quite sunny so once the game was underway again, we went into the stands to catch some rays for the last 5 balls of the match, and it was all over.
The evening was spent catching a quiet beer watching an acoustic set right near our hostel. The next morning we packed up all our stuff, said farewell to London & the English Language & it was time to Head for Paris. Wi wi!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
UK Road trip Part 2
hey again, sorry I've been a bit slack blogging. This one is going to take us all the way up to now, and I'll try and stay on top after that :-)
So. When the story left off, we were 2 frustrated, tired young adults, hitting the sack for what felt like the first time in a long time. Well we awoke pretty early ( I think...) and we were on the road. On to Scotland!
The drive up was amazing, we drove along a highway that offered us coastline glimpses most of the way and hen we stopped for a break at Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Its a small town on the border of Scotland & England, and is walled from conflict between England & Scotland. I was very happy to stop here as my craving to check this sort of town out was still strong from missing York the previous day. It was very different, and the walls were primarily made as big drop/cliff type things. Its real weird because you can walk along the top and there's still no fence or anything silly like that, and you could do some serious damage from the fall. In the walls around the corners and so forth are the shooting points. Anyway it had nothing on York, but was really enchanting in its own.
From there we drove to Edinburgh. I'm really not too sure what to say here...the City was beautiful. We walked alot through Edinburgh as we were there a few days The Castles architecture let us down a bit from the back view, but the cliff it is on is rather impressive. Once we got to the front though it redeemed itself as castle-lke enough for us ( yes I really am writing this arrogantly) and we enjoyed the climb up the side on the hill.
We spent the afternoon of the second day climbling up Arthurs Seat Apparently the one in Victoria is names after this one, so no, i have not gotten lost & wandered back home. It was a fairly easy hike in terms of hikes, but it was still sweaty & hard work, and the cun was out & I thought we were going to get burnt. Shock! Getting to the top was amazing as we had full 360 degree views of Edinburgh, out to the bay and it dwarfed the massive hill the Castle was on. It was stunning & a great end to our time there.
Next stop was Glasgow, and to be honest, we didnt really do much there, we stayed on a nice brunswick-ish street and strolled down that a bit, but we had an early night and didnt see much else. Cooked a mean Haddock with Mushy Peas for dinner though. Yum!
the next mprning we headed to Paisley where Bens family hail from back in the day. The first thing we saw was a van with "cameron...something or other" a nice stroll around there and a look at the most bizare church. At first we thought it was falling left, then right, then kinda skewed in the middle. I'm feeling almost certain it was perfecty straight and all an optical illusion the more I think about it... Anyhow, we decided to try Haggis whilst here too and must sa, it wasnt That bad. We had it from a Fish and Chip shop and was fried kinda like a dim sim with the same sort of texture. Bang a bit of Dead Horse on it & she was great! ( well alright as long as you dont think too much)
We spent the afternoon driving out of Scotland & headed towards Wales. The plan was to sleep in the car on one of the motorway services, which are usually 24hour & monitored, so safe. But as it was quite a bit of a drive, we decided to keep going get as close to Cardiff as we could, and then only have to drive 30min or so in the morning. The problem was, we had to change otorways. This was fine until we turned down the second one and it was pitch black. No street lights, 1 lane. Motorway my *insert explict here* so we drove for a little while, nearlly ran out of petrol, came acoss a gas station, but no services/safe places to sleep... It ended with me spending some of my own cash on a room for the night, as I was not feeling all that safe ( thanks dad! not that he understands the internet! - someone tell him please).
So we slept, awoke nice & comfortable and continued onto Wales in the morning...
I'm going to have a rest now. It shall continue once again...shortly
*closes intermission curtains*
So. When the story left off, we were 2 frustrated, tired young adults, hitting the sack for what felt like the first time in a long time. Well we awoke pretty early ( I think...) and we were on the road. On to Scotland!
The drive up was amazing, we drove along a highway that offered us coastline glimpses most of the way and hen we stopped for a break at Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Its a small town on the border of Scotland & England, and is walled from conflict between England & Scotland. I was very happy to stop here as my craving to check this sort of town out was still strong from missing York the previous day. It was very different, and the walls were primarily made as big drop/cliff type things. Its real weird because you can walk along the top and there's still no fence or anything silly like that, and you could do some serious damage from the fall. In the walls around the corners and so forth are the shooting points. Anyway it had nothing on York, but was really enchanting in its own.
From there we drove to Edinburgh. I'm really not too sure what to say here...the City was beautiful. We walked alot through Edinburgh as we were there a few days The Castles architecture let us down a bit from the back view, but the cliff it is on is rather impressive. Once we got to the front though it redeemed itself as castle-lke enough for us ( yes I really am writing this arrogantly) and we enjoyed the climb up the side on the hill.
We spent the afternoon of the second day climbling up Arthurs Seat Apparently the one in Victoria is names after this one, so no, i have not gotten lost & wandered back home. It was a fairly easy hike in terms of hikes, but it was still sweaty & hard work, and the cun was out & I thought we were going to get burnt. Shock! Getting to the top was amazing as we had full 360 degree views of Edinburgh, out to the bay and it dwarfed the massive hill the Castle was on. It was stunning & a great end to our time there.
Next stop was Glasgow, and to be honest, we didnt really do much there, we stayed on a nice brunswick-ish street and strolled down that a bit, but we had an early night and didnt see much else. Cooked a mean Haddock with Mushy Peas for dinner though. Yum!
the next mprning we headed to Paisley where Bens family hail from back in the day. The first thing we saw was a van with "cameron...something or other" a nice stroll around there and a look at the most bizare church. At first we thought it was falling left, then right, then kinda skewed in the middle. I'm feeling almost certain it was perfecty straight and all an optical illusion the more I think about it... Anyhow, we decided to try Haggis whilst here too and must sa, it wasnt That bad. We had it from a Fish and Chip shop and was fried kinda like a dim sim with the same sort of texture. Bang a bit of Dead Horse on it & she was great! ( well alright as long as you dont think too much)
We spent the afternoon driving out of Scotland & headed towards Wales. The plan was to sleep in the car on one of the motorway services, which are usually 24hour & monitored, so safe. But as it was quite a bit of a drive, we decided to keep going get as close to Cardiff as we could, and then only have to drive 30min or so in the morning. The problem was, we had to change otorways. This was fine until we turned down the second one and it was pitch black. No street lights, 1 lane. Motorway my *insert explict here* so we drove for a little while, nearlly ran out of petrol, came acoss a gas station, but no services/safe places to sleep... It ended with me spending some of my own cash on a room for the night, as I was not feeling all that safe ( thanks dad! not that he understands the internet! - someone tell him please).
So we slept, awoke nice & comfortable and continued onto Wales in the morning...
I'm going to have a rest now. It shall continue once again...shortly
*closes intermission curtains*
Saturday, April 17, 2010
UK Road Trip, Part 1
Hey guys.
We haven’t written in a while as we have been quite busy! Since we have already covered the trip to Avebury & Stonehenge, I’ll continue from when we left London again, and headed north this time. First Stop was Birmingham. I have to say that driving around the UK was quite funny at first, because everything is so close, and what seems like a long journey to them over here barely gets us to the top of Victoria. After only a few hours we had reached our first destination. Birmingham.
Now I do want to say we only have 2 weeks’ worth of driving & a lot of ground to cover, so most places we only stopped in for a night. Birmingham was quite cool actually, we went to see the “famous bullring” and that was fairly interesting. It really is just a shopping complex, but the design is really interesting & worth a look. The place we stayed was the Birmingham Central Backpackers and the place comes highly recommended. It would have been nice to chill out there for quite a while I think.
Just before I move on in the trip, I do want to mention that Petrol is quite expensive over here; you are looking at £1.20 a litre. So although driving short distances, it is still rather costly. Not to mention our lovely travel agent again although asked directly failed to inform us of the additional charges for my age on the car hire, so we started on the back foot. It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke, because it doesn’t seem to matter how hard we work to get back on top, or how many days straight we eat noodles, there is always a new thing/issue to take us back to the drawing board…or behind it in some cases. It is a part of the adventure though I guess. It has made for a lot of disgruntled laughs. I think if we took it all too seriously I’d be grey haired by now.
Anyway moving on…After Birmingham we headed up to Leeds. We very thankfully got to catch up with Luke (one of the English boys we met in Spain) and crash on his couch. Leeds was very entertaining namely because Airbourne were playing one of the big arenas that night, and there were “metalheads” everywhere. I didn’t even know who Airbourne were, but 1 You-Tube clip was enough to shame the Warnabool lads.
We from Leeds crossed over to Liverpool (not everything seems logical, but it all had its reasons I promise) Liverpool was lots of fun. We were pretty much immersed in everything Beatles from when we arrived. And once again we were staying at a great place (Bankhall Hotel) which just made everything that little bit easier. Liverpool we actually stopped in at for 2 nights. We spent the first day visiting Penny Lane & Strawberry Field etc, and the second at the Beatles Story Museum. We also headed to the Cavern Club for a few drinks.
The Cavern Club was quite an experience. Even though it was just a cover band on, we went the night after we learnt all about how it used to be, apparently the room was so packed out during the Beatles sets that one night the sweat and condensation on the walls started dripping & shorted out their equipment (or so the Beatles Story says, and who am I to argue?) So it was cool to go down & be in that space. Now it isn’t quite the original, as it was demolished in the 70’s, but was rebuilt at the same address, in the exact same dimensions, and with the same bricks SO it was an authentic as it could get. We met a cool couple there from London too who thought it was outrageous that we didn’t care about Danni Minogue (I think I actually pfft’d her) or neighbours, and that I didn’t watch East Enders. She was a funny lass. I was quick to point out that Kylie is dearly loved & at least as far as I was aware my nanna used to still watch Home & Away & Neighbours.
So after Liverpool ( and this is where our driving pattern becomes illogical) the plan was to drive to York( 2 hours away) and then half way up to Scotland & crash at our midway cheap hotel we had booked, be there just after dinner time for a nice rest.
All did not, to any stretch of the imagination go to plan. We were cruising quite happily on the M62 when signs start flashing saying it’s closed between j22 & j24, which are just exits. Now perhaps Naively ( but we’ve done alright) we actually don’t have a map, we just look up where we need to go & write down the directions, because of this, we were not going t turn off & guess how to drive to the other side of the country, we figured we’d just to the detour. I guess I was part hoping that the people from Britain would go another way, or it wasn’t going to be that bad…Whatever went through our minds was wrong. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 1 hour before we even made in off the freeway onto the detour. Then the detour took us through a whole host of small towns, of course all 1 lane. So our hour of 4 lanes wide of cars crawling along was all squeezing slowly though these tiny streets, for oh about 4 hours…!
By the time we finally got to York it was well and truly dark, making it harder to see signs & make turns, we just wanted to get to bed. York though is amazing & wonderful & I wish so much that we had time there. We did miss our turn though so we drove around the city centre for ages (not made for driving, and mainly one way streets) o we did get a nice look, but the wall & the bars are just utterly breathtaking & one of the most overwhelming structures we came across, mainly I guess because it is so underrated and less spoken of.
To finish the day we continued our drive on a dark small road to our resting place, and were very very happy to be there and sleep.
To be continued….
xx
We haven’t written in a while as we have been quite busy! Since we have already covered the trip to Avebury & Stonehenge, I’ll continue from when we left London again, and headed north this time. First Stop was Birmingham. I have to say that driving around the UK was quite funny at first, because everything is so close, and what seems like a long journey to them over here barely gets us to the top of Victoria. After only a few hours we had reached our first destination. Birmingham.
Now I do want to say we only have 2 weeks’ worth of driving & a lot of ground to cover, so most places we only stopped in for a night. Birmingham was quite cool actually, we went to see the “famous bullring” and that was fairly interesting. It really is just a shopping complex, but the design is really interesting & worth a look. The place we stayed was the Birmingham Central Backpackers and the place comes highly recommended. It would have been nice to chill out there for quite a while I think.
Just before I move on in the trip, I do want to mention that Petrol is quite expensive over here; you are looking at £1.20 a litre. So although driving short distances, it is still rather costly. Not to mention our lovely travel agent again although asked directly failed to inform us of the additional charges for my age on the car hire, so we started on the back foot. It’s kind of turned into a bit of a joke, because it doesn’t seem to matter how hard we work to get back on top, or how many days straight we eat noodles, there is always a new thing/issue to take us back to the drawing board…or behind it in some cases. It is a part of the adventure though I guess. It has made for a lot of disgruntled laughs. I think if we took it all too seriously I’d be grey haired by now.
Anyway moving on…After Birmingham we headed up to Leeds. We very thankfully got to catch up with Luke (one of the English boys we met in Spain) and crash on his couch. Leeds was very entertaining namely because Airbourne were playing one of the big arenas that night, and there were “metalheads” everywhere. I didn’t even know who Airbourne were, but 1 You-Tube clip was enough to shame the Warnabool lads.
We from Leeds crossed over to Liverpool (not everything seems logical, but it all had its reasons I promise) Liverpool was lots of fun. We were pretty much immersed in everything Beatles from when we arrived. And once again we were staying at a great place (Bankhall Hotel) which just made everything that little bit easier. Liverpool we actually stopped in at for 2 nights. We spent the first day visiting Penny Lane & Strawberry Field etc, and the second at the Beatles Story Museum. We also headed to the Cavern Club for a few drinks.
The Cavern Club was quite an experience. Even though it was just a cover band on, we went the night after we learnt all about how it used to be, apparently the room was so packed out during the Beatles sets that one night the sweat and condensation on the walls started dripping & shorted out their equipment (or so the Beatles Story says, and who am I to argue?) So it was cool to go down & be in that space. Now it isn’t quite the original, as it was demolished in the 70’s, but was rebuilt at the same address, in the exact same dimensions, and with the same bricks SO it was an authentic as it could get. We met a cool couple there from London too who thought it was outrageous that we didn’t care about Danni Minogue (I think I actually pfft’d her) or neighbours, and that I didn’t watch East Enders. She was a funny lass. I was quick to point out that Kylie is dearly loved & at least as far as I was aware my nanna used to still watch Home & Away & Neighbours.
So after Liverpool ( and this is where our driving pattern becomes illogical) the plan was to drive to York( 2 hours away) and then half way up to Scotland & crash at our midway cheap hotel we had booked, be there just after dinner time for a nice rest.
All did not, to any stretch of the imagination go to plan. We were cruising quite happily on the M62 when signs start flashing saying it’s closed between j22 & j24, which are just exits. Now perhaps Naively ( but we’ve done alright) we actually don’t have a map, we just look up where we need to go & write down the directions, because of this, we were not going t turn off & guess how to drive to the other side of the country, we figured we’d just to the detour. I guess I was part hoping that the people from Britain would go another way, or it wasn’t going to be that bad…Whatever went through our minds was wrong. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for 1 hour before we even made in off the freeway onto the detour. Then the detour took us through a whole host of small towns, of course all 1 lane. So our hour of 4 lanes wide of cars crawling along was all squeezing slowly though these tiny streets, for oh about 4 hours…!
By the time we finally got to York it was well and truly dark, making it harder to see signs & make turns, we just wanted to get to bed. York though is amazing & wonderful & I wish so much that we had time there. We did miss our turn though so we drove around the city centre for ages (not made for driving, and mainly one way streets) o we did get a nice look, but the wall & the bars are just utterly breathtaking & one of the most overwhelming structures we came across, mainly I guess because it is so underrated and less spoken of.
To finish the day we continued our drive on a dark small road to our resting place, and were very very happy to be there and sleep.
To be continued….
xx
Camera Issues
FYI...
Our camera pooped itself, well the lens is stuck out and all it does is beep 4 times then turn off. We spent quite a while on the internet & discovered this was quite a common fault of the camera, and the only way to fix it is to go in there and fiddle with things.
Not going to happen, so we are still taking photo's using the phone (they are still good quality pics) but it does mean our blogs will be photoless until we buy a new USB cord. Which isn't likely anytime soon.
So I warn you. Reading, not just pretty pictures :-(
Thats all!
Our camera pooped itself, well the lens is stuck out and all it does is beep 4 times then turn off. We spent quite a while on the internet & discovered this was quite a common fault of the camera, and the only way to fix it is to go in there and fiddle with things.
Not going to happen, so we are still taking photo's using the phone (they are still good quality pics) but it does mean our blogs will be photoless until we buy a new USB cord. Which isn't likely anytime soon.
So I warn you. Reading, not just pretty pictures :-(
Thats all!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Opeth @ Royal Albert Hall
What an awesome experience.
We arrived at the Royal Albert Hall about 20 minutes before the doors opened to have a bit of a stroll around and take in the atmosphere and the outside of the venue, it's just a big, elaborate piece of artwork the outside really, there's a few different statues and monuments outside and the whole top of the outside of the building is covered in carvings of artists and performers.
Then the doors opened.
The first few things that hit you as you walk in is that it is not any old ordinary concert venue, it's ultra classy. The gentleman at the door asked you how you are and takes your ticket, pointing you up the gold trimmed, red carpeted stairs towards the highest level of seating in the place.
As you walk up the stairs you head past the Grand Tier, at which stage I mentioned to Melanie
"Now that is the most classy of areas in any concert hall in the world... that's where the Queen sits when she's here" then you head past the Second Tier and up to the Circle.
We walked out of the stairwell and over to another gentleman who was outside where our seats were taking people's tickets and he asked us "Is it just you two?" We nodded our heads and he said "Would you like a re seat?" We nodded our heads a little faster. The he said "I can give you one of our boxes on the Grand Tier" and sifted through his tickets and stopped at one "Have these ones, they're the best in the house."
Wow. We couldn't believe it. We hurried downstairs to see where our new, very special seats were, and another man greeted us at the stairwell, took our tickets and said "Wow, you've got the good ones, follow me" and walked us down the hall, past pictures of some of the amazing events that had been held there, unlocking the door to our own box.
As we sat down both of our jaws dropped, it is without a doubt the most awe inspiring venue you could ever imagine. The huge ceiling, the massive pipe organ across the back wall, the sheer grandeur of the gold lace trimming, red seats and curtains, and we.... two young aussie's had two of the best seats in the house... only a few across from the seats where the Royals sit. It was impossible to think that it could've got any better.
With a few warnings from a lady over the loudspeaker, the lights went down for the start of the show, and instead of the usual Opeth introduction music, there was the gentle rise of a piano swell, signalling the start of the show.
Opeth then proceeded to play my most favorite of all their albums, Blackwater Park in it's entirety, including all the mellow guitar and piano interludes, and no talking in between songs, just the whole piece played flawlessly.
And that was only the first set. The second set included a song from every other album in chronological order. with Mike stopping to talk and joke with the crowd in between songs as always, and one stage proclaiming "We're bringing Death Metal into the fine halls of culture."
You could really tell that the band was as excited to play at Royal Albert Hall just as much as everyone else was to see them, which made it even more of a great night.
Full Setlist and a few of our pictures below:
1st Set - Blackwater Park
1.The Leper Affinity
2.Bleak
3.Harvest
4.The Drapery Falls
5.Dirge for November
6.The Funeral Portrait
7.Patterns in the Ivy
8.Blackwater Park
2nd Set - Evolution XX
9.Forest of October
10.Advent
11.April Ethereal
12.The Moor
13.Wreath
14.Hope Leaves
15.Reverie/Harlequin Forest
16.The Lotus Eater
We arrived at the Royal Albert Hall about 20 minutes before the doors opened to have a bit of a stroll around and take in the atmosphere and the outside of the venue, it's just a big, elaborate piece of artwork the outside really, there's a few different statues and monuments outside and the whole top of the outside of the building is covered in carvings of artists and performers.
Then the doors opened.
The first few things that hit you as you walk in is that it is not any old ordinary concert venue, it's ultra classy. The gentleman at the door asked you how you are and takes your ticket, pointing you up the gold trimmed, red carpeted stairs towards the highest level of seating in the place.
As you walk up the stairs you head past the Grand Tier, at which stage I mentioned to Melanie
"Now that is the most classy of areas in any concert hall in the world... that's where the Queen sits when she's here" then you head past the Second Tier and up to the Circle.
We walked out of the stairwell and over to another gentleman who was outside where our seats were taking people's tickets and he asked us "Is it just you two?" We nodded our heads and he said "Would you like a re seat?" We nodded our heads a little faster. The he said "I can give you one of our boxes on the Grand Tier" and sifted through his tickets and stopped at one "Have these ones, they're the best in the house."
Wow. We couldn't believe it. We hurried downstairs to see where our new, very special seats were, and another man greeted us at the stairwell, took our tickets and said "Wow, you've got the good ones, follow me" and walked us down the hall, past pictures of some of the amazing events that had been held there, unlocking the door to our own box.
As we sat down both of our jaws dropped, it is without a doubt the most awe inspiring venue you could ever imagine. The huge ceiling, the massive pipe organ across the back wall, the sheer grandeur of the gold lace trimming, red seats and curtains, and we.... two young aussie's had two of the best seats in the house... only a few across from the seats where the Royals sit. It was impossible to think that it could've got any better.
With a few warnings from a lady over the loudspeaker, the lights went down for the start of the show, and instead of the usual Opeth introduction music, there was the gentle rise of a piano swell, signalling the start of the show.
Opeth then proceeded to play my most favorite of all their albums, Blackwater Park in it's entirety, including all the mellow guitar and piano interludes, and no talking in between songs, just the whole piece played flawlessly.
And that was only the first set. The second set included a song from every other album in chronological order. with Mike stopping to talk and joke with the crowd in between songs as always, and one stage proclaiming "We're bringing Death Metal into the fine halls of culture."
You could really tell that the band was as excited to play at Royal Albert Hall just as much as everyone else was to see them, which made it even more of a great night.
Full Setlist and a few of our pictures below:
1st Set - Blackwater Park
1.The Leper Affinity
2.Bleak
3.Harvest
4.The Drapery Falls
5.Dirge for November
6.The Funeral Portrait
7.Patterns in the Ivy
8.Blackwater Park
2nd Set - Evolution XX
9.Forest of October
10.Advent
11.April Ethereal
12.The Moor
13.Wreath
14.Hope Leaves
15.Reverie/Harlequin Forest
16.The Lotus Eater
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Stonehenge, Avebury and other monuments...
Hey guys,
We have had an Epic last few days...and that's an understatement. We picked up the car on the 4th & I have adjusted well to driving on the left side of the road again. I have a little manual this time, so It's a bit more fun to drive. I've found driving in general to be OK, highways & so forth, but the country roads can be tiny, hardly big enough for 1 car & the speed limits on them are like 40-50mph sometimes, leaving me going a little slower pissing off locals who are used to them.
We have of course been driving places, of which I guess I should talk about! On Advice from Rian & lonely planet, whilst out west we decided to not only check out Stonehenge, but some of its equally impressive World Heritage Sites.
We stared off at West Kennet Long Barrow (wiki) and after a climb up the hill we got to have a bit of a look. Its really bizarre, I guess it it to say the same for all of the Neolithic sites of the area. Theres no admission to these ones and its really nice to get up close. We got to actually walk inside the chamber and up ontop of the mound.
Next Stop off was Silbury Hill. you can see Silbury Hill from the long Barrow & vice versa, it's just across the road. We were quite excited when we were up across the road as we saw someone climb it & thought it would be fun to do, but as we neared we saw signs requesting we didn't...so we didn't. It was a bit sad actually as it has so much history and by all accounts sounds really amazing when you read about it, the make up of the hill & of course its unknown purpose. But since the tunnels they built through it in the 60's caused damage & they have since filled it in, it really is just a big hill.. not all that impressive to look at honestly, but still worth the visit
After that we went back though Avebury to check out the stone circle. This was quite amazing. In most sections the stones are places perfectly around and it seems some of them were even shaped quite oddly too. The town itself is pricelessly charming, and once again as this was free, we stopped into the pub for a bite to take in the atmosphere a bit more. The whole town hasn't changed, I assume this is to do with it being protected, but it is amazingly kept. What was perhaps the strangest was the church. Dating back to the 12th century the church is an amazing feat of Architecture, and the graves accompanying are quite old, we waled past a few from 1900ish. But what really captivated me about the town was that these aren't all just old churches or places that are there for show. Its still fully functional, with graves onsite as later dated as 2007. Although we walked through the town thinking we were looking back in time, it is very much how they live.
We slept in the car that night & managed to et a good few hours sleep. To wake up for the Day. Stonehenge followed by Opeth at Royal Albert Hall. Massive!
We had fairly low hopes headed towards Stonehenge Lonely Planet had described it as a "underwhelming experience" so we weren't hoping for any kind of enlightenment I guess. We arrived early as advised to avoid the overly touristy atmosphere. We were actually surprised how close it was to the road. I mean, real close, They are petitioning & so forth to move the road now, but it is kinda funny that it was put there in the first place. Anyway we were going to pay to go through etc and get closer, but we wanted to see first exactly what we were paying for as we knew it had been roped off. The ropes were alot further away from the stones than we had anticipated and the path was literally 2 or so metres from the fence next to the road in some areas, so we decided to not pay the 7 pounds each for a few more steps.
We had a great view from the road, and in all fairness it is something you look at and scratch your head, I mean it is amazing, and its something that you have to do, you know, but I think we made the right decision in not paying to go inside. In the first 10minutes of us being there, buketloads of people came in, coaches & tour busses and the area that you pay to go in was packed out. I think we probably had a better experience on the other side of the fence.
After this we head back to our hotel in Heathrow & drive into Opeth. I Shall leave this amazing story here and leave Benny to tell the rest.
Much love
xxx
We have had an Epic last few days...and that's an understatement. We picked up the car on the 4th & I have adjusted well to driving on the left side of the road again. I have a little manual this time, so It's a bit more fun to drive. I've found driving in general to be OK, highways & so forth, but the country roads can be tiny, hardly big enough for 1 car & the speed limits on them are like 40-50mph sometimes, leaving me going a little slower pissing off locals who are used to them.
We have of course been driving places, of which I guess I should talk about! On Advice from Rian & lonely planet, whilst out west we decided to not only check out Stonehenge, but some of its equally impressive World Heritage Sites.
We stared off at West Kennet Long Barrow (wiki) and after a climb up the hill we got to have a bit of a look. Its really bizarre, I guess it it to say the same for all of the Neolithic sites of the area. Theres no admission to these ones and its really nice to get up close. We got to actually walk inside the chamber and up ontop of the mound.
Next Stop off was Silbury Hill. you can see Silbury Hill from the long Barrow & vice versa, it's just across the road. We were quite excited when we were up across the road as we saw someone climb it & thought it would be fun to do, but as we neared we saw signs requesting we didn't...so we didn't. It was a bit sad actually as it has so much history and by all accounts sounds really amazing when you read about it, the make up of the hill & of course its unknown purpose. But since the tunnels they built through it in the 60's caused damage & they have since filled it in, it really is just a big hill.. not all that impressive to look at honestly, but still worth the visit
After that we went back though Avebury to check out the stone circle. This was quite amazing. In most sections the stones are places perfectly around and it seems some of them were even shaped quite oddly too. The town itself is pricelessly charming, and once again as this was free, we stopped into the pub for a bite to take in the atmosphere a bit more. The whole town hasn't changed, I assume this is to do with it being protected, but it is amazingly kept. What was perhaps the strangest was the church. Dating back to the 12th century the church is an amazing feat of Architecture, and the graves accompanying are quite old, we waled past a few from 1900ish. But what really captivated me about the town was that these aren't all just old churches or places that are there for show. Its still fully functional, with graves onsite as later dated as 2007. Although we walked through the town thinking we were looking back in time, it is very much how they live.
We slept in the car that night & managed to et a good few hours sleep. To wake up for the Day. Stonehenge followed by Opeth at Royal Albert Hall. Massive!
We had fairly low hopes headed towards Stonehenge Lonely Planet had described it as a "underwhelming experience" so we weren't hoping for any kind of enlightenment I guess. We arrived early as advised to avoid the overly touristy atmosphere. We were actually surprised how close it was to the road. I mean, real close, They are petitioning & so forth to move the road now, but it is kinda funny that it was put there in the first place. Anyway we were going to pay to go through etc and get closer, but we wanted to see first exactly what we were paying for as we knew it had been roped off. The ropes were alot further away from the stones than we had anticipated and the path was literally 2 or so metres from the fence next to the road in some areas, so we decided to not pay the 7 pounds each for a few more steps.
We had a great view from the road, and in all fairness it is something you look at and scratch your head, I mean it is amazing, and its something that you have to do, you know, but I think we made the right decision in not paying to go inside. In the first 10minutes of us being there, buketloads of people came in, coaches & tour busses and the area that you pay to go in was packed out. I think we probably had a better experience on the other side of the fence.After this we head back to our hotel in Heathrow & drive into Opeth. I Shall leave this amazing story here and leave Benny to tell the rest.
Much love
xxx
Friday, April 2, 2010
London Part 3
Hey again,
This ones just a brief update!
We have shopped again, and won I might add. I am so freakin in love with Topshop. I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of the holidays budget on clothes in the one store!
We also returned to Abbey Road to get the priceless Ben walking across photo.
& we have now moved out to Ilford, Essex for a few days. We are at a great B&B where we get full English Breakfast which is fantastic! (provided you wake up in time) We slept in this morning and are quite pissed off that we missed it. Alarms on for tomorrow!
The areas quite cool so far. Very local suburbia, so everyones just going about their own you know. It's kinda nice to just be living instead of sightseeing & we feel much less touristy.
We finally had fish & chips & it was great to get some greasy battered fish back into us. We were going to try fish & chips in the states til we realised everything was crumbed, no batter. It was deliciously bad for us!
Heading out for lunch again today, not too sure what we feel like. But might head to the chicken shop. 50 Pence Style...
Much love xxx
This ones just a brief update!
We have shopped again, and won I might add. I am so freakin in love with Topshop. I'm pretty sure I could spend the rest of the holidays budget on clothes in the one store!
We also returned to Abbey Road to get the priceless Ben walking across photo.
& we have now moved out to Ilford, Essex for a few days. We are at a great B&B where we get full English Breakfast which is fantastic! (provided you wake up in time) We slept in this morning and are quite pissed off that we missed it. Alarms on for tomorrow!
The areas quite cool so far. Very local suburbia, so everyones just going about their own you know. It's kinda nice to just be living instead of sightseeing & we feel much less touristy.
We finally had fish & chips & it was great to get some greasy battered fish back into us. We were going to try fish & chips in the states til we realised everything was crumbed, no batter. It was deliciously bad for us!
Heading out for lunch again today, not too sure what we feel like. But might head to the chicken shop. 50 Pence Style...
Much love xxx
Monday, March 29, 2010
London Pt 2
Heya,
So London Part 2...So last post my intentions for the next day were to get up early & get to Buckingham Palace early for the changing of the guard. We slept in & that didn't happen, but I can say happily that we did go this morning & it was entertaining as hell to watch!
There were far more people around than I expected for something that happens every second day, so it was kind of hard to get a good spot. But we did get to check out the big black hats & horses & guns & stuff...but the brass band played Abba...which confused the hell out of us!
We did check out all the squares & stuff, and that was cool, just more London business, but nothing overwhelming I think, but cool places to check out. 3 Seville row though was a different story. The street hasn't changed since The Beatles had their rooftop concert. The door, just like Abbey Road is written all over & people have carved their names into it, but apart from the cars parked in the street, it was a timewarp!
The other night we also went out for a few drinks. We found a real cool bar to start with that was playing Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, but their stock cheap beer was Fosters... so after 1 we moved on, wanted to check out a band. We then went to Posters, which is a live music venue on Kilburn Rd, just around the corner. It was real cool actually, because the first band we caught the end of were real brit pop rock like, and that was something fun to see. The next however were actually from New York, Hank & Cupcakes. They were different & fun! Loved them. Check them out definitely.
Other than that we have had to give in to the weather & buy a brolley! we walked through Hyde Park this morning in the rain & went to check out Royal Albert Hall. Cannot wait to get inside & see Opeth next week. I am sooo looking forward to it.
We have also attempted to shop for something for Benny's Birthday along Oxford Street...we will find something soon.
The Tower Bridge was astounding & London bridge not so! haha.
Oh & I have been real tempted to take photos of all the street signs/stations etc & make our own monopoly board...Haven't done so, and probably wont. But Maccas are rubbing it in with the Monopoly Promotion! Oh we had the greatest Big Mac EVER yesterday, and yes I am willing to make the call.. and I know, eating Maccas, but I f all victim to the promotion. I love it!
Anyway thats it for now. We are moving further out of the city in a few days, then pick up the car.
Massively looking forward to the th April which is set to be Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, then Opeth at Royal Albert Hall! MASSIVE!
Anyways, take care! love you all
xxx
So London Part 2...So last post my intentions for the next day were to get up early & get to Buckingham Palace early for the changing of the guard. We slept in & that didn't happen, but I can say happily that we did go this morning & it was entertaining as hell to watch!
There were far more people around than I expected for something that happens every second day, so it was kind of hard to get a good spot. But we did get to check out the big black hats & horses & guns & stuff...but the brass band played Abba...which confused the hell out of us!
We did check out all the squares & stuff, and that was cool, just more London business, but nothing overwhelming I think, but cool places to check out. 3 Seville row though was a different story. The street hasn't changed since The Beatles had their rooftop concert. The door, just like Abbey Road is written all over & people have carved their names into it, but apart from the cars parked in the street, it was a timewarp!
The other night we also went out for a few drinks. We found a real cool bar to start with that was playing Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, but their stock cheap beer was Fosters... so after 1 we moved on, wanted to check out a band. We then went to Posters, which is a live music venue on Kilburn Rd, just around the corner. It was real cool actually, because the first band we caught the end of were real brit pop rock like, and that was something fun to see. The next however were actually from New York, Hank & Cupcakes. They were different & fun! Loved them. Check them out definitely.
Other than that we have had to give in to the weather & buy a brolley! we walked through Hyde Park this morning in the rain & went to check out Royal Albert Hall. Cannot wait to get inside & see Opeth next week. I am sooo looking forward to it.
We have also attempted to shop for something for Benny's Birthday along Oxford Street...we will find something soon.
The Tower Bridge was astounding & London bridge not so! haha.
Oh & I have been real tempted to take photos of all the street signs/stations etc & make our own monopoly board...Haven't done so, and probably wont. But Maccas are rubbing it in with the Monopoly Promotion! Oh we had the greatest Big Mac EVER yesterday, and yes I am willing to make the call.. and I know, eating Maccas, but I f all victim to the promotion. I love it!
Anyway thats it for now. We are moving further out of the city in a few days, then pick up the car.
Massively looking forward to the th April which is set to be Stonehenge, Avebury, Silbury Hill, then Opeth at Royal Albert Hall! MASSIVE!
Anyways, take care! love you all
xxx
Friday, March 26, 2010
London! Finally
Hey guys!
So... I didn't want to bring down the last blog with the story of what happened with our flights, but I may just explain it a little now to fill everyone in. Not to get sympathy or anything like that, but it may just benefit someone, someday, as no matter how prepared you are shit can go wrong!
The long story short is that our flight was cancelled/rescheduled and were not advised. The tough bit though, was that as we had a particular type of agency tickets that means only STA could reschedule us. And they were uncontactable/unhelpful etc. So we were stuck in the airport for 23hours in total I think, & ended up having to wait 2 more days anyway and purchasing new tickets ourselves. We are seeking compensation & all that jazz, but the moral of the story is to check what kind of ticket you have and that the airline can always help/reschedule, because it would have saved us a whole bunch of trouble, and really once you leave, you dont want to be relying on a company in another counrty/timezone etc.
But as you all know, we are now safe & happy in London!
So... we flew into Stansted which is the airport quite a while out from the city so decided we would stay in a little town close to instead of making the trek in late at night. The town was Bishop Stortford. It was so refreshing to be here, the bus driver of the bus we caught ( the bus really? a bus driver? who'd have thought?) Anyway this big jolly bloke was so friendly & helpful we just felt welcome.
The town was exactly what you expect of Britian & cuper cute, we stayed in a B&B where the host asked us what time we would like Breakfast & what we wanted. Was fantastically traditional & I wish we had more time there.
Anyway ,we are now in Kilburn for a week, just to the NW of the city & it has been heaps of fun. We are only a few minutes from everything & have a room with an oven and everything so are eating well again ( anythings better than airport food!) We went to Big Ben & checked out Westminster Abbey and so forth, we went to Lords Cricket Ground, and today we strolled through Portobello Markets. I tell you if I was rich I could have blown ALOT of money, and am still kicking myself for not getting this super cute dress...but anyway...
Yesterday we also went to Abbey Road Studio's. We walked across the crossing (yay!) but due to all the cars, couldnt get a pic of us doing so...so we shall return!
Loving the history & the stereotypical things to Love ( the cops hats, phone boxes, buses etc)Looking forward to continuing to explore everything! Oh & we got absolutely drenched both of the last 2 days because it seems to like to trick us with sun in the mornings, we will learn!
Tomorrow its Buckingham Palace for The Changing of the Guard, and then Leicester Sq, Picadilly Circus & the famous Apple Building where The Beatles did their rooftop concert.
Every day is full of wonder & fun. Very Happy & looking forward to the rest!
Much love
xxx
So... I didn't want to bring down the last blog with the story of what happened with our flights, but I may just explain it a little now to fill everyone in. Not to get sympathy or anything like that, but it may just benefit someone, someday, as no matter how prepared you are shit can go wrong!
The long story short is that our flight was cancelled/rescheduled and were not advised. The tough bit though, was that as we had a particular type of agency tickets that means only STA could reschedule us. And they were uncontactable/unhelpful etc. So we were stuck in the airport for 23hours in total I think, & ended up having to wait 2 more days anyway and purchasing new tickets ourselves. We are seeking compensation & all that jazz, but the moral of the story is to check what kind of ticket you have and that the airline can always help/reschedule, because it would have saved us a whole bunch of trouble, and really once you leave, you dont want to be relying on a company in another counrty/timezone etc.
But as you all know, we are now safe & happy in London!
So... we flew into Stansted which is the airport quite a while out from the city so decided we would stay in a little town close to instead of making the trek in late at night. The town was Bishop Stortford. It was so refreshing to be here, the bus driver of the bus we caught ( the bus really? a bus driver? who'd have thought?) Anyway this big jolly bloke was so friendly & helpful we just felt welcome.
The town was exactly what you expect of Britian & cuper cute, we stayed in a B&B where the host asked us what time we would like Breakfast & what we wanted. Was fantastically traditional & I wish we had more time there.
Anyway ,we are now in Kilburn for a week, just to the NW of the city & it has been heaps of fun. We are only a few minutes from everything & have a room with an oven and everything so are eating well again ( anythings better than airport food!) We went to Big Ben & checked out Westminster Abbey and so forth, we went to Lords Cricket Ground, and today we strolled through Portobello Markets. I tell you if I was rich I could have blown ALOT of money, and am still kicking myself for not getting this super cute dress...but anyway...
Yesterday we also went to Abbey Road Studio's. We walked across the crossing (yay!) but due to all the cars, couldnt get a pic of us doing so...so we shall return!
Loving the history & the stereotypical things to Love ( the cops hats, phone boxes, buses etc)Looking forward to continuing to explore everything! Oh & we got absolutely drenched both of the last 2 days because it seems to like to trick us with sun in the mornings, we will learn!
Tomorrow its Buckingham Palace for The Changing of the Guard, and then Leicester Sq, Picadilly Circus & the famous Apple Building where The Beatles did their rooftop concert.
Every day is full of wonder & fun. Very Happy & looking forward to the rest!
Much love
xxx
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Las Fallas and the Epic week that was
Hey guys!
Shit! I actually am not sure how to start this. this week has been both the best & the hardest of my life I recon But screw the bad shit, lets talk about the good stuff!
Las Fallas was something so incredible & amazing that I want to start by saying no words, video's or images are going to show you how good it really was. The city had a heartbeat & it shot right through us, it was by far the highlight of the trip so far, and if anyone can go & experience it as a part of a trip.. Do it, you will never do anything like it!
So now that I have completely built you up, I will do my best to try and explain this to you. For starters its a city wide festival. We were staying a good 15 minute tram ride from the city ( yes they have trams too!) and we still had fallas around every corner. Fireworks outside our hostel & people drinking in the street.
The days are always full on. They start @ 8am by letting off fireworks outside...well shit everywhere they were outside out hostel! There are parades & music. in general people are just out & about. @ 2pm there is the Mascleta which is essentially an audio fireworks display. It is LOUD! if you actually get into the plaza, which we did on one of the days it goes through you...its one of those things that I cannot explain. Its just so loud you think your ears are going to burst & your heart jump out of your chest. And then the 60,000 people that are in the plaza with you all cheer. Its amazing!
During the last few days there is also the Flower offering, which involved alot selected locals from what we could figure getting dressed up in their traditional dress and each carrying flowers to a massive wooden standing Mary monument. Over 2 days this wooden outline is covered with these flowers & the end result is breathtaking
All day there are also paella contests happening in the streets & bullfighting happening at the bull ring.
The nights are topped off by another massive fireworks display each & every night of the festival and parties all over the streets. There are tents & within each community they have their own party tents set up & stages in some cases.
Of course the best part of this whole thing, is the Crema. When they light this shit on Fire!
The Fallas themselves are so beautiful & intricate, it's really emotional when they set them alight. Each one has a fireworks show beforehand & then the whole thing goes up. We even watched one fall on a row of light & bring it down & everyone was just cheering!
Some of the craziest stuff though isn't in any brochure you will read about fallas. The firecrackers that get let off all day everyday are done by kids. I'm seriously talking 5 year olds & up. They throw them on the streets, in the middle of people, avoiding getting blown up is half the fun! on one of the last days when we were out we got to witness a firework war. People had fireworks, ones that go off several times & whoosh in all different directions and were throwing them at people, and in the end into crowds of people! it was one of the most amazing things to watch. I was in a portaloo ( classy story this is going to be!) and i could hear one going off right above me, I'm like shit, what if it aims right at me..I was shitting myself ( at least I was in the right place *badoomtish*) but really. Funny/Scary!
The energy that everyone has is nuts & its so contagious that you just want to be as big a part of it as you can. We ate Paella, tapas, churros & drank a few cervezas. We cheered, sang & ran from fireworks. I loved it! We loved it!
In all honesty though, I've barely touched the surface of what we did and I know the meatpacking brit boys are dying to be mentioned! So as I don't think my literary skills are enough to express the passion we have towards this thing, we will be uploading an audio blog when we get a chance.
Then you guys can evaluate if we still have our accents down too!
For the record the meatpackers were an amazing addition to the festival, and it was really good to do it with a few others to really take it all in, have a laugh and meet fantastic new friends. As they are a bit quicker than us they already have photos up with us tagged on Facebook so check em out!
We shall add to this as soon as we can be assed! We'll upload a slideshow & all that biz too!
Edit: Keeping good on promises
Much Love!
xxx
Shit! I actually am not sure how to start this. this week has been both the best & the hardest of my life I recon But screw the bad shit, lets talk about the good stuff!
Las Fallas was something so incredible & amazing that I want to start by saying no words, video's or images are going to show you how good it really was. The city had a heartbeat & it shot right through us, it was by far the highlight of the trip so far, and if anyone can go & experience it as a part of a trip.. Do it, you will never do anything like it!
So now that I have completely built you up, I will do my best to try and explain this to you. For starters its a city wide festival. We were staying a good 15 minute tram ride from the city ( yes they have trams too!) and we still had fallas around every corner. Fireworks outside our hostel & people drinking in the street.
The days are always full on. They start @ 8am by letting off fireworks outside...well shit everywhere they were outside out hostel! There are parades & music. in general people are just out & about. @ 2pm there is the Mascleta which is essentially an audio fireworks display. It is LOUD! if you actually get into the plaza, which we did on one of the days it goes through you...its one of those things that I cannot explain. Its just so loud you think your ears are going to burst & your heart jump out of your chest. And then the 60,000 people that are in the plaza with you all cheer. Its amazing!
During the last few days there is also the Flower offering, which involved alot selected locals from what we could figure getting dressed up in their traditional dress and each carrying flowers to a massive wooden standing Mary monument. Over 2 days this wooden outline is covered with these flowers & the end result is breathtaking
All day there are also paella contests happening in the streets & bullfighting happening at the bull ring.
The nights are topped off by another massive fireworks display each & every night of the festival and parties all over the streets. There are tents & within each community they have their own party tents set up & stages in some cases.
Of course the best part of this whole thing, is the Crema. When they light this shit on Fire!
The Fallas themselves are so beautiful & intricate, it's really emotional when they set them alight. Each one has a fireworks show beforehand & then the whole thing goes up. We even watched one fall on a row of light & bring it down & everyone was just cheering!
Some of the craziest stuff though isn't in any brochure you will read about fallas. The firecrackers that get let off all day everyday are done by kids. I'm seriously talking 5 year olds & up. They throw them on the streets, in the middle of people, avoiding getting blown up is half the fun! on one of the last days when we were out we got to witness a firework war. People had fireworks, ones that go off several times & whoosh in all different directions and were throwing them at people, and in the end into crowds of people! it was one of the most amazing things to watch. I was in a portaloo ( classy story this is going to be!) and i could hear one going off right above me, I'm like shit, what if it aims right at me..I was shitting myself ( at least I was in the right place *badoomtish*) but really. Funny/Scary!
The energy that everyone has is nuts & its so contagious that you just want to be as big a part of it as you can. We ate Paella, tapas, churros & drank a few cervezas. We cheered, sang & ran from fireworks. I loved it! We loved it!
In all honesty though, I've barely touched the surface of what we did and I know the meatpacking brit boys are dying to be mentioned! So as I don't think my literary skills are enough to express the passion we have towards this thing, we will be uploading an audio blog when we get a chance.
Then you guys can evaluate if we still have our accents down too!
For the record the meatpackers were an amazing addition to the festival, and it was really good to do it with a few others to really take it all in, have a laugh and meet fantastic new friends. As they are a bit quicker than us they already have photos up with us tagged on Facebook so check em out!
We shall add to this as soon as we can be assed! We'll upload a slideshow & all that biz too!
Edit: Keeping good on promises
Much Love!
xxx
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Madrid
Ola!
So we have landed in Spain & life is absolutely fantastic!
Our sleep patterns have been highly disturbed Resulting in me right now, at 6:30 not having slept all night ... But we did partake in an afternoon nap.
Madrid is beautiful. We only had 2 days here and in a few hours will be on a bus to Valencia for Las Fallas, so we tried to soak up as much of the atmosphere as we could.
Day 1 we spent just strolling. We are staying in the heart of the City, just off Gran Via, so we were just walking, taking it all in. The architecture is stunning and has us so excited for all of Europe. We walked down to the Parque del Retiro and people watched. There were row-boats & performers & there is music everywhere.
Day 2 was our 2 year anniversary, we spent the morning walking around the grounds at the Palacio Real de Madrid, and the Plaza Mayor d, followed by Spanish sweet pastries & lunch at the park. We had a bit of a nap then headed out for Beer & Tapas at night. We went to a little tapas bar called El Tigre, and for every beer you buy you get a plate of tapas!
Was amazing.
Anyway we are now in Valencia for fallas, but ony have limited net access, so I'm keeping it short & sweet we have a lot to do!
Hope everyone is safe, and we have just signed up for
Skype so when we get to London we'll be able to have chats. So sign up
Much Love!
So we have landed in Spain & life is absolutely fantastic!
Our sleep patterns have been highly disturbed Resulting in me right now, at 6:30 not having slept all night ... But we did partake in an afternoon nap.
Madrid is beautiful. We only had 2 days here and in a few hours will be on a bus to Valencia for Las Fallas, so we tried to soak up as much of the atmosphere as we could.
Day 1 we spent just strolling. We are staying in the heart of the City, just off Gran Via, so we were just walking, taking it all in. The architecture is stunning and has us so excited for all of Europe. We walked down to the Parque del Retiro and people watched. There were row-boats & performers & there is music everywhere.
Day 2 was our 2 year anniversary, we spent the morning walking around the grounds at the Palacio Real de Madrid, and the Plaza Mayor d, followed by Spanish sweet pastries & lunch at the park. We had a bit of a nap then headed out for Beer & Tapas at night. We went to a little tapas bar called El Tigre, and for every beer you buy you get a plate of tapas!
Was amazing.
Anyway we are now in Valencia for fallas, but ony have limited net access, so I'm keeping it short & sweet we have a lot to do!
Hope everyone is safe, and we have just signed up for
Skype so when we get to London we'll be able to have chats. So sign up
Much Love!
The Subtle (and not-so) differences between Australia & America
From a first time traveller...
So as we prepare to fly out to Spain, I figured I’d write this blog based on the things we have noticed that are different between the two countries. No bias opinions, no stereotyping (well limited) and no bullshit. Some that may help you on your travels, some that are well known already, and some that are purely for amusement. After all as it stands there are a lot of similarities. We are both lucky democratic countries, predominately English speaking, however extremely multicultural...and we are both fat.
So starting with the basics.
Taxes are not included in prices & vary from State to State. I.e. something worth 99c may cost you $1.08 in one state, and $1.12 in another. And this price isn’t written anywhere. It gets added at the register. So Beware purchasing down to your last penny.
Speaking of Pennies, obviously the money is different. Duh. But the thing that surprised me is it is not logical in size. Dimes are worth 10c yet are smaller than the nickel (5c value) and although I must say at first I thought it’d e annoying counting 1c coins, I found it refreshing to not just lose money for no real reason. Screw the roundup.
Driving - Now there are the obvious points. Other sides of the road, other side of the car, but other than this all the road rules are extremely similar. The lines are all the same, and the only thing that really confused me is that when you turn right at traffic light, you can turn on the red. Now this is the short corner, so think turning left at home, you just duck round the corner. Here you can do that even on the red provided it is safe. Legal, unless there is a sign saying that you cannot turn on the red. So if the red light isn’t enough there’s a sign telling you that red actually means stop here. Handy huh?
Tipping – This again is well known, but just in case. You must tip for all kinds of service. Cabs, Waitresses, porters, some tour guides, bartenders etc. fast food you’re good without but the average is 10-15%. If you do plan to sit down, this along with the taxes can quite easily turn your $10 bill to $15; keep it in mind is all.
TV. TV needs a category all of its own, or probably one specifically – Advertising
I’ll start with ads for law firms. Constant ads from law firms specializing in everything from getting the IRS off your back to Mesothelioma. And then there are ads for drugs. Prescription drugs that is. We have some at home & late at night I guess, but they just seem incredibly common here. I didn’t know I needed to know so much about so many different diseases & which drugs are available for them. As entertaining as that is are the disclaimers. No fine print here! For every add about a medicine, you have a 3 minute dialogue at the end of it telling you every reason possible that you should not by their product. May cause….heart disease, cancer, swollen legs, itchy eyes, don’t drink etc etc. All those things that are printed neatly on the back of all our prescription drugs are spoken about in every single add.
The other thing highly interesting is that companies will slug each other in their ads. There is an ongoing war between Verizon & AT&T over here, and its classic. They are two phone providers…and whilst at home they will claim to be the best or whatnot. They quite clearly are at each other. They pisstake each other’s products, customer service, quality, speed, and each add then has a rebuttal again.
Service Level
Generally fast food vendors do not give a shit that you are there. We had one guy in Maccas not even say hello or ask what we wanted. Just walked to the register & looked at us. It can be brutal… On the Other hand though, those working for tips will fall over backwards for you, even though you have to tip them anyway, they will always work that bit harder. We had a bartender in Memphis tell us he was working for $4 an hour!! And the rest is made from tips. It’s hardcore.
Food
Bread tasted like sugar. No joke it is really really sweet. We had kind of forgotten about this as it has been so long, but it shocked us at first. Now we have just kind of gotten used to it.
Bagels, Doughnuts, Muffins. All your standard Breakfast food…. Yum.
In their coffee. It’s not milk. They have powdered stuff called creamer which is used. Otherwise it’s a mix of half Half, which is cream and milk, again sweetens everything up But is soo good. We had it on coco puffs one night for a snack and it was like chocolate heaven.
Maccas. Now in all honesty we have eaten a bit of maccas but haven’t ventured from the Dollar Menu. Fast food competition is so fierce over here that they all have value menus. This is generally a host of items from $1-$2 and includes McChicken, Double cheeseburgers, Sundaes, at other places Taco’s, Drinks, Junior Whoppers etc. They are smaller versions I think that the norm, but still a cheap way to get by, so we have taken full advantage of that. Aside from that the drinks are larger. Our small is kid’s size, Medium the small etc, and of course the large is huge. In most maccas bar New York it is also free refills, so the soda is very cheap & free flowing over here. Cans of Coke are still only $1.
There are a whole heap of other foods that we either do not have at home, or we do not do nearly as well. Nacho Cheese Dip, Buffalo wings, Alligator Sausage Chili, BBQ Ribs. I have to say I love Texan BBQ food and they are incredibly good at cooking spicy food and keeping the flavor strong, especially wings. They do however try and do some things…not so well. Steak... not everywhere, but alot of places sell chopped steak. Its steak, but chopped up (oddly enough) til its kind of just a meat pattie. Strange…. Other than that coffee isn’t as good as it’s all dripolator coffee, and there seems to be lot of bad jam, well jelly. As they don’t have our beloved vegemite there are all kinds of assortments jelly’s and some as nasty.
The multiculturalism.
I think its fair to say at home that we have a wide variety of cultures from Europe & Asia. (loosely using these terms) Here it is fairly similar but it has White/Black/Mexican dominance, with a range of South Americans also. Miami had a massive Cuban influence, and everything in LA was in English & Spanish. Everywhere had a Chinatown, and we have also visited little Italy & little Korea here in New York too.
I’m sure there are a lot more differences to mention but these are the ones that come to mind today.. Some of the people we have met have been absolutely lovely, there are of course others though who almost think they need to live up to the arrogant American stereotype, but it has been an amazing journey and we have learnt a lot!
Looking forward to moving on, but America has definitely been an eye opening adventure. From the Beaches of Santa Monica & Miami to the desert we drove through in Arizona and New Mexico, to the snow in Nashville & NYC, and the swamps through Louisiana. Big City New York and the tiny trucker towns we stayed at one the way through. Its over. Its nuts!
Bring on Spain!
Love you all xxx
So as we prepare to fly out to Spain, I figured I’d write this blog based on the things we have noticed that are different between the two countries. No bias opinions, no stereotyping (well limited) and no bullshit. Some that may help you on your travels, some that are well known already, and some that are purely for amusement. After all as it stands there are a lot of similarities. We are both lucky democratic countries, predominately English speaking, however extremely multicultural...and we are both fat.
So starting with the basics.
Taxes are not included in prices & vary from State to State. I.e. something worth 99c may cost you $1.08 in one state, and $1.12 in another. And this price isn’t written anywhere. It gets added at the register. So Beware purchasing down to your last penny.
Speaking of Pennies, obviously the money is different. Duh. But the thing that surprised me is it is not logical in size. Dimes are worth 10c yet are smaller than the nickel (5c value) and although I must say at first I thought it’d e annoying counting 1c coins, I found it refreshing to not just lose money for no real reason. Screw the roundup.
Driving - Now there are the obvious points. Other sides of the road, other side of the car, but other than this all the road rules are extremely similar. The lines are all the same, and the only thing that really confused me is that when you turn right at traffic light, you can turn on the red. Now this is the short corner, so think turning left at home, you just duck round the corner. Here you can do that even on the red provided it is safe. Legal, unless there is a sign saying that you cannot turn on the red. So if the red light isn’t enough there’s a sign telling you that red actually means stop here. Handy huh?
Tipping – This again is well known, but just in case. You must tip for all kinds of service. Cabs, Waitresses, porters, some tour guides, bartenders etc. fast food you’re good without but the average is 10-15%. If you do plan to sit down, this along with the taxes can quite easily turn your $10 bill to $15; keep it in mind is all.
TV. TV needs a category all of its own, or probably one specifically – Advertising
I’ll start with ads for law firms. Constant ads from law firms specializing in everything from getting the IRS off your back to Mesothelioma. And then there are ads for drugs. Prescription drugs that is. We have some at home & late at night I guess, but they just seem incredibly common here. I didn’t know I needed to know so much about so many different diseases & which drugs are available for them. As entertaining as that is are the disclaimers. No fine print here! For every add about a medicine, you have a 3 minute dialogue at the end of it telling you every reason possible that you should not by their product. May cause….heart disease, cancer, swollen legs, itchy eyes, don’t drink etc etc. All those things that are printed neatly on the back of all our prescription drugs are spoken about in every single add.
The other thing highly interesting is that companies will slug each other in their ads. There is an ongoing war between Verizon & AT&T over here, and its classic. They are two phone providers…and whilst at home they will claim to be the best or whatnot. They quite clearly are at each other. They pisstake each other’s products, customer service, quality, speed, and each add then has a rebuttal again.
Service Level
Generally fast food vendors do not give a shit that you are there. We had one guy in Maccas not even say hello or ask what we wanted. Just walked to the register & looked at us. It can be brutal… On the Other hand though, those working for tips will fall over backwards for you, even though you have to tip them anyway, they will always work that bit harder. We had a bartender in Memphis tell us he was working for $4 an hour!! And the rest is made from tips. It’s hardcore.
Food
Bread tasted like sugar. No joke it is really really sweet. We had kind of forgotten about this as it has been so long, but it shocked us at first. Now we have just kind of gotten used to it.
Bagels, Doughnuts, Muffins. All your standard Breakfast food…. Yum.
In their coffee. It’s not milk. They have powdered stuff called creamer which is used. Otherwise it’s a mix of half Half, which is cream and milk, again sweetens everything up But is soo good. We had it on coco puffs one night for a snack and it was like chocolate heaven.
Maccas. Now in all honesty we have eaten a bit of maccas but haven’t ventured from the Dollar Menu. Fast food competition is so fierce over here that they all have value menus. This is generally a host of items from $1-$2 and includes McChicken, Double cheeseburgers, Sundaes, at other places Taco’s, Drinks, Junior Whoppers etc. They are smaller versions I think that the norm, but still a cheap way to get by, so we have taken full advantage of that. Aside from that the drinks are larger. Our small is kid’s size, Medium the small etc, and of course the large is huge. In most maccas bar New York it is also free refills, so the soda is very cheap & free flowing over here. Cans of Coke are still only $1.
There are a whole heap of other foods that we either do not have at home, or we do not do nearly as well. Nacho Cheese Dip, Buffalo wings, Alligator Sausage Chili, BBQ Ribs. I have to say I love Texan BBQ food and they are incredibly good at cooking spicy food and keeping the flavor strong, especially wings. They do however try and do some things…not so well. Steak... not everywhere, but alot of places sell chopped steak. Its steak, but chopped up (oddly enough) til its kind of just a meat pattie. Strange…. Other than that coffee isn’t as good as it’s all dripolator coffee, and there seems to be lot of bad jam, well jelly. As they don’t have our beloved vegemite there are all kinds of assortments jelly’s and some as nasty.
The multiculturalism.
I think its fair to say at home that we have a wide variety of cultures from Europe & Asia. (loosely using these terms) Here it is fairly similar but it has White/Black/Mexican dominance, with a range of South Americans also. Miami had a massive Cuban influence, and everything in LA was in English & Spanish. Everywhere had a Chinatown, and we have also visited little Italy & little Korea here in New York too.
I’m sure there are a lot more differences to mention but these are the ones that come to mind today.. Some of the people we have met have been absolutely lovely, there are of course others though who almost think they need to live up to the arrogant American stereotype, but it has been an amazing journey and we have learnt a lot!
Looking forward to moving on, but America has definitely been an eye opening adventure. From the Beaches of Santa Monica & Miami to the desert we drove through in Arizona and New Mexico, to the snow in Nashville & NYC, and the swamps through Louisiana. Big City New York and the tiny trucker towns we stayed at one the way through. Its over. Its nuts!
Bring on Spain!
Love you all xxx
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
New York City Pt2
Hi again
Once again I write to you from our apartment *cough “shoebox” cough* above 14th Avenue. It has again been a crazy few days. Since the last update we haven’t left New York, still just taking it all in, and we only have 2 days left to do so before we are off to Spain.
We have probably not covered that much more ground. The areas we are right near are amazing. We are right around the corner from Greenwich Village so have walked a lot around this area. The other night we went out – not to do much really, we had to find somewhere with free entry, but we just chilled in a dingy bar for a while listening to a couple of bands, drinking our coke. We did go down to Café Wha? But couldn’t afford to pay to be seated, they let us look in though.
We have been up the Empire State Building and overlooked New York. It was really interesting actually, Manhattan is huge, that’s no surprise, but because we could see the ends in all directions it was a fascinating way to take it in.
We have also taken the Ferry to Staten Island. We were going to do the traditional Ellis/Liberty island but as we didn’t want to spend all our money on the generic tourist attractions, we looked around for other ideas. The Staten Island ferry is Free and takes you right past it, so we were close enough and it was a nice trip across the water.
We have had a few hiccups in the road since we have been here. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame @ Annex had closed and we didn’t know, so we were all excited to go down there. The posters for the Lennon Exhibit are still up and everything, but it has been closed for a few months. So that sucked. Was disappointing, but not much we could do!
We also noticed while checking our flight details that the car hire in the UK was booked for the wrong day, well month. So we had to email the Travel Agent who took care of that. We also had a mini heart attack when we looked up online what to do if we lost out 1-94W form. I can’t remember if we explained this earlier but we had issues on the Bahamas cruise, and customs told us that we had to have one, and wouldn’t have gotten into the country otherwise. Originally both me & Benny couldn’t remember having one at all but after 2 officials telling us the same thing, I guess we were talked into thinking we had lost it, so while Benny searched, I looked up what to do. It was going to cost over $300 to file for a new one, and we would be able to leave, but it would affect us returning to the states as until the form was returned they would see it as an overstay on our “visa”. We were freaking. Luckily Benny found his white slip explaining that as we had filled out our online forms & had the chip in our passports that we were part of a new trial on paperless 1-94W submissions. Phewf!
Its interesting how no matter how hard you try and be organized, things always go wrong. Luckily this all panned out but there were a few stressful moments.
Aside from all of this I should get back to talking about New York. We have also visited Wall Street & Battery Park, both iconic. And yesterday we went to the Rockefeller Centre/Plaza & Grad Central Terminal. It was huuuge.
Today we plan to revisit Central park as we have had some decent weather & hope that it is green, and also plan to finally get a slice of ‘New York Style” pizza. They are also ridiculously big, hopefully as tasty as well.
I have been trying, very hard to learn bits & pieces of Spanish & bought a phrasebook the other day to help us while we are there. We are looking forward to getting a new stamp on the passport & moving on, Though it is a little sad. We’ve been in the states for nearly 3 months now, so it has got a comfortable feel, especially in New York. We know we will have new challenges ahead with the language barrier & not understanding everything, so we are excitet, yet feel completely under prepared.
Well that’s it for now, hope everyone at home is well & happy.
Blog Soon
xxx
Once again - we will upload Pics. We may wait til Spain though where we ave internet in the room, its too frustrating this way!
Once again I write to you from our apartment *cough “shoebox” cough* above 14th Avenue. It has again been a crazy few days. Since the last update we haven’t left New York, still just taking it all in, and we only have 2 days left to do so before we are off to Spain.
We have probably not covered that much more ground. The areas we are right near are amazing. We are right around the corner from Greenwich Village so have walked a lot around this area. The other night we went out – not to do much really, we had to find somewhere with free entry, but we just chilled in a dingy bar for a while listening to a couple of bands, drinking our coke. We did go down to Café Wha? But couldn’t afford to pay to be seated, they let us look in though.
We have been up the Empire State Building and overlooked New York. It was really interesting actually, Manhattan is huge, that’s no surprise, but because we could see the ends in all directions it was a fascinating way to take it in.
We have also taken the Ferry to Staten Island. We were going to do the traditional Ellis/Liberty island but as we didn’t want to spend all our money on the generic tourist attractions, we looked around for other ideas. The Staten Island ferry is Free and takes you right past it, so we were close enough and it was a nice trip across the water.
We have had a few hiccups in the road since we have been here. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame @ Annex had closed and we didn’t know, so we were all excited to go down there. The posters for the Lennon Exhibit are still up and everything, but it has been closed for a few months. So that sucked. Was disappointing, but not much we could do!
We also noticed while checking our flight details that the car hire in the UK was booked for the wrong day, well month. So we had to email the Travel Agent who took care of that. We also had a mini heart attack when we looked up online what to do if we lost out 1-94W form. I can’t remember if we explained this earlier but we had issues on the Bahamas cruise, and customs told us that we had to have one, and wouldn’t have gotten into the country otherwise. Originally both me & Benny couldn’t remember having one at all but after 2 officials telling us the same thing, I guess we were talked into thinking we had lost it, so while Benny searched, I looked up what to do. It was going to cost over $300 to file for a new one, and we would be able to leave, but it would affect us returning to the states as until the form was returned they would see it as an overstay on our “visa”. We were freaking. Luckily Benny found his white slip explaining that as we had filled out our online forms & had the chip in our passports that we were part of a new trial on paperless 1-94W submissions. Phewf!
Its interesting how no matter how hard you try and be organized, things always go wrong. Luckily this all panned out but there were a few stressful moments.
Aside from all of this I should get back to talking about New York. We have also visited Wall Street & Battery Park, both iconic. And yesterday we went to the Rockefeller Centre/Plaza & Grad Central Terminal. It was huuuge.
Today we plan to revisit Central park as we have had some decent weather & hope that it is green, and also plan to finally get a slice of ‘New York Style” pizza. They are also ridiculously big, hopefully as tasty as well.
I have been trying, very hard to learn bits & pieces of Spanish & bought a phrasebook the other day to help us while we are there. We are looking forward to getting a new stamp on the passport & moving on, Though it is a little sad. We’ve been in the states for nearly 3 months now, so it has got a comfortable feel, especially in New York. We know we will have new challenges ahead with the language barrier & not understanding everything, so we are excitet, yet feel completely under prepared.
Well that’s it for now, hope everyone at home is well & happy.
Blog Soon
xxx
Once again - we will upload Pics. We may wait til Spain though where we ave internet in the room, its too frustrating this way!
Friday, March 5, 2010
New York City
Hello again,
So we have a fair bit to catch up on. It’s been a very very busy week. We have moved from DC to New York in Harlem, and then went to Philly for Muse, staying in New Jersey, and then moved back to New York, and we are now staying on the edge of Chelsea & the Meatpacking District. So we have moved over 4 states.
Arriving in New York the first time, we were dropped right near Penn Station in the middle of it all, right near Madison Square Garden in a bustling part of the city. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. I think New York’s one of those places that just has a feel...it’s really hard to explain, but I felt a part of something big the second we got here.
For the first 3 nights we stayed in a dingy hostel in Harlem. It was highly amusing up there and the characters we came across were priceless. A few were students studying & staying in the hostel as it was all they could afford, others were just New Yorkers that hit a hard patch, and then there were of course a few internationals as well. I was very glad we were there as it was an experience I am glad we had, but it was on the end stretch of a lot of Dorm Beds, so I have to say it is nice to be back in a private room.
Harlem was really interesting, we got to go visit the Apollo Theater, The Seinfeld Restaurant (Tom’s) and we just spent a bit of time walking around.
We walked down to Times Square both days walking on each side of New York. The first day we went down the Westside. We spent time strolling through Central Park, watching the kids sledding on their snow day, building snowmen & having snowball fights. It was awesome, I love the snow. If I could be somewhere that was only summer & then snow, and skip the whole messy rain bit I would love it. Snowball fights are soo much fun.
We visited Strawberry Fields & the Dakota building which was absolutely overwhelming. I may leave this incase Benny wants to elaborate, but to be where John Lennon died was really bizarre and kind of surreal.
When we went down the Upper Eastside it was definitely not what I expected. I guess it has all been highly glamorized and the names of Park Ave, Madison & 5th strike certain images in your head. The designer stores were all still there, and I could imagine it at its finest, but in the winter with all the trees leafless and snow being piled up on all the pavements & melting, it certainly wasn’t the high end images I had envisioned thanks to SATC & Gossip Girl. Still I was so happy to be there.
Times Square is everything it has been hyped up to be. It takes a few minutes to look around & take it all in. It’s bizarre actually the billboards are just everywhere. We noticed some that just seemed ridiculously placed. On the top of buildings miles away, just because they are viewable from Times Square. That said I guess we saw it, so maybe not so silly after all.
Times Square has a few specialty stored that we also saw fit to visit. The M&M store was somewhere I could have easily, and quite unreasonably spent a lot of money. You can make your own M&M mix. With colours that do not exist anywhere else. Being budget conscious we made a tiny mix of green and gold M&M’s to snack on. Go Aussie! There is also the Massive Toys R Us store that has its own Ferris wheel, and leggo replicas of the Empire State Building & the Chrysler building.
We have also visited Broadway, as it’s in the same place of course. And I would absolutely LOVE to go to a show, but it doesn’t seem like even with the half price tickets that they offer that it is within our reach. One day though. I shall return with moneybags!
Yesterday we spent the day on our feet. We strolled through Chelsea, Soho, Little Italy (although couldn’t find much that screamed Italy) Chinatown (which is huge) and ended up crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s massive & from there was good to look back into Manhattan & take in its size. It really is incredible. We also took notice of where the twin towers would have stood. From there we also got a nice view of the Statue of Liberty from a distance.
Once we realized how close we were to the World Trade centre site, we decided to fit it in to the day’s events, so we continued walking. It was full on. They are only now just starting to build on it again, so it is still just a massive gaping hole, 8 and a half years on it was not something I expected. I know that they hadn’t built much yet, but as it is in the opening stages of construction it resembles a wrecking yard. Was definitely a time for reflection.
Aside from these sights we have also visited Trump Tower and Trump International Hotel, we had a look around Madison Square Garden, but didn’t get into the arena, and we went to Radio City Music Hall.
New York is amazing. There is still so much to do and it has this magical way of making me want to spend, to eat out to see shows, to do so much more than we can. At the same time I’m kind of enjoying how we are living we have moved into a hotel on 14th Street as I said earlier in Chelsea, it’s on the fourth floor so we have to climb these killer stairs to get up here. It’s cramped, with only a microwave & a fridge to eat from and we overlook 14th street. It’s never quiet. There are always sirens, and right now I’m sitting up here typing on the laptop, telling my story. I feel like a New Yorker. O doubt I’ll have a lot more to say, but this is a novel in itself, so time to say goodbye.
We have a shitty cold, but are very happy & loving NYC.
Peace
xxx
Once again I dont have the patience for the pics to upload so sorry, it's just the novel for now xxx
So we have a fair bit to catch up on. It’s been a very very busy week. We have moved from DC to New York in Harlem, and then went to Philly for Muse, staying in New Jersey, and then moved back to New York, and we are now staying on the edge of Chelsea & the Meatpacking District. So we have moved over 4 states.
Arriving in New York the first time, we were dropped right near Penn Station in the middle of it all, right near Madison Square Garden in a bustling part of the city. It was a little overwhelming to say the least. I think New York’s one of those places that just has a feel...it’s really hard to explain, but I felt a part of something big the second we got here.
For the first 3 nights we stayed in a dingy hostel in Harlem. It was highly amusing up there and the characters we came across were priceless. A few were students studying & staying in the hostel as it was all they could afford, others were just New Yorkers that hit a hard patch, and then there were of course a few internationals as well. I was very glad we were there as it was an experience I am glad we had, but it was on the end stretch of a lot of Dorm Beds, so I have to say it is nice to be back in a private room.
Harlem was really interesting, we got to go visit the Apollo Theater, The Seinfeld Restaurant (Tom’s) and we just spent a bit of time walking around.
We walked down to Times Square both days walking on each side of New York. The first day we went down the Westside. We spent time strolling through Central Park, watching the kids sledding on their snow day, building snowmen & having snowball fights. It was awesome, I love the snow. If I could be somewhere that was only summer & then snow, and skip the whole messy rain bit I would love it. Snowball fights are soo much fun.
We visited Strawberry Fields & the Dakota building which was absolutely overwhelming. I may leave this incase Benny wants to elaborate, but to be where John Lennon died was really bizarre and kind of surreal.
When we went down the Upper Eastside it was definitely not what I expected. I guess it has all been highly glamorized and the names of Park Ave, Madison & 5th strike certain images in your head. The designer stores were all still there, and I could imagine it at its finest, but in the winter with all the trees leafless and snow being piled up on all the pavements & melting, it certainly wasn’t the high end images I had envisioned thanks to SATC & Gossip Girl. Still I was so happy to be there.
Times Square is everything it has been hyped up to be. It takes a few minutes to look around & take it all in. It’s bizarre actually the billboards are just everywhere. We noticed some that just seemed ridiculously placed. On the top of buildings miles away, just because they are viewable from Times Square. That said I guess we saw it, so maybe not so silly after all.
Times Square has a few specialty stored that we also saw fit to visit. The M&M store was somewhere I could have easily, and quite unreasonably spent a lot of money. You can make your own M&M mix. With colours that do not exist anywhere else. Being budget conscious we made a tiny mix of green and gold M&M’s to snack on. Go Aussie! There is also the Massive Toys R Us store that has its own Ferris wheel, and leggo replicas of the Empire State Building & the Chrysler building.
We have also visited Broadway, as it’s in the same place of course. And I would absolutely LOVE to go to a show, but it doesn’t seem like even with the half price tickets that they offer that it is within our reach. One day though. I shall return with moneybags!
 |
Yesterday we spent the day on our feet. We strolled through Chelsea, Soho, Little Italy (although couldn’t find much that screamed Italy) Chinatown (which is huge) and ended up crossing the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s massive & from there was good to look back into Manhattan & take in its size. It really is incredible. We also took notice of where the twin towers would have stood. From there we also got a nice view of the Statue of Liberty from a distance.
Once we realized how close we were to the World Trade centre site, we decided to fit it in to the day’s events, so we continued walking. It was full on. They are only now just starting to build on it again, so it is still just a massive gaping hole, 8 and a half years on it was not something I expected. I know that they hadn’t built much yet, but as it is in the opening stages of construction it resembles a wrecking yard. Was definitely a time for reflection.
Aside from these sights we have also visited Trump Tower and Trump International Hotel, we had a look around Madison Square Garden, but didn’t get into the arena, and we went to Radio City Music Hall.
New York is amazing. There is still so much to do and it has this magical way of making me want to spend, to eat out to see shows, to do so much more than we can. At the same time I’m kind of enjoying how we are living we have moved into a hotel on 14th Street as I said earlier in Chelsea, it’s on the fourth floor so we have to climb these killer stairs to get up here. It’s cramped, with only a microwave & a fridge to eat from and we overlook 14th street. It’s never quiet. There are always sirens, and right now I’m sitting up here typing on the laptop, telling my story. I feel like a New Yorker. O doubt I’ll have a lot more to say, but this is a novel in itself, so time to say goodbye.
We have a shitty cold, but are very happy & loving NYC.
Peace
xxx
Once again I dont have the patience for the pics to upload so sorry, it's just the novel for now xxx
Friday, February 26, 2010
Washington
Hey Guys
So I have to say…Washington has been amazing. The whole time here everything has just felt big, classic and meaningful…
I suppose since we have been in the states we have been watching quite a lot of the news, and getting interested in a lot of the politics. So I am definitely happy that we had that exposure before getting here. It made us understand a little more what it all meant.
We of course spent most of our time around the Capitol, and the whole mall/Smithsonian section. Around this area for those that do not know all the museums are free. So Washington is definitely a place you can do it on the cheap.
We went to the Lincoln memorial, the reflecting pool, Washington monument, WW2 Memorial, Korean War memorial, The White House, Capitol Hill, The National Museum of American History, Air & Space Museum, The National Gallery of Art, The National Museum of Natural History… you get the idea!
We spent a good 8 hours a day walking, so really packed a lot in. As it has been so full on, I’ll just list a couple of highlights.
- Picassos – Family of Saltimbanques at the NGA.
- Dorothy’s shoes from the Original Wizard of Oz at the American History Museum
- Lincoln Memorial
- The Aussie section in Natural History Museum
- Capitol Hill, and having a look where the inaugurations are held, looking down all the way to the memorial from the top.
I’ll upload pics later. We have to go to catch our bus to New York. Which…we are so freaking excited about!... Here you go!
Much love xx
So I have to say…Washington has been amazing. The whole time here everything has just felt big, classic and meaningful…
I suppose since we have been in the states we have been watching quite a lot of the news, and getting interested in a lot of the politics. So I am definitely happy that we had that exposure before getting here. It made us understand a little more what it all meant.
We of course spent most of our time around the Capitol, and the whole mall/Smithsonian section. Around this area for those that do not know all the museums are free. So Washington is definitely a place you can do it on the cheap.
We went to the Lincoln memorial, the reflecting pool, Washington monument, WW2 Memorial, Korean War memorial, The White House, Capitol Hill, The National Museum of American History, Air & Space Museum, The National Gallery of Art, The National Museum of Natural History… you get the idea!
We spent a good 8 hours a day walking, so really packed a lot in. As it has been so full on, I’ll just list a couple of highlights.
- Picassos – Family of Saltimbanques at the NGA.
- Dorothy’s shoes from the Original Wizard of Oz at the American History Museum
- Lincoln Memorial
- The Aussie section in Natural History Museum
- Capitol Hill, and having a look where the inaugurations are held, looking down all the way to the memorial from the top.
I’ll upload pics later. We have to go to catch our bus to New York. Which…we are so freaking excited about!... Here you go!
Much love xx
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Updates
Hey,
Just a quick update today. Since the cruise we have been laying low in Orlando, saving our pennies and are very happy to report we are back on budget and have made up for our car hire bungle! so yay back on top.
Was nice to just relax for a little knowing that we are about to head into a very full on section of the trip. Washington, NY, Philly, NY, Madrid & Valencia, back to Madrid to fly to London... That whole section os going to be extremely fast paced, so we rested, and saved.
Last night we boarded the epic 19hour Amtrak ride from Orlando to Washington. We amused ourselves again quite well and managed to get in a few hours sleep.
In DC at the moment, looking to turn in early & get into it all tomorrow morning.
Back in the Snow, and have alot to see!
Much love
xxx
Just a quick update today. Since the cruise we have been laying low in Orlando, saving our pennies and are very happy to report we are back on budget and have made up for our car hire bungle! so yay back on top.
Was nice to just relax for a little knowing that we are about to head into a very full on section of the trip. Washington, NY, Philly, NY, Madrid & Valencia, back to Madrid to fly to London... That whole section os going to be extremely fast paced, so we rested, and saved.
Last night we boarded the epic 19hour Amtrak ride from Orlando to Washington. We amused ourselves again quite well and managed to get in a few hours sleep.
In DC at the moment, looking to turn in early & get into it all tomorrow morning.
Back in the Snow, and have alot to see!
Much love
xxx
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Bahamas Cruise
Hello there...
Just before I jump into it, a quick update on our happenings since last post. Where we were staying in Ft Lauderdale was extremely nice. It was the Bridge At Cordova and comes highly recommended. Our room was great, we had a seperate kitchen, big screen TV with clear reception (Olympics & the All Star Game were on), Nice pool, and everyone was super friendly. The guy that checked us in was a douche, but thats a separate story. Anyway we have been there until today where we caught the early bus back to Orlando, and once again I come to you from Maccas Free Wi-fi.
So the cruise, It was priced quite nicely for a treat for us. $85 with taxes & Bahamas port charges, and that was all inclusive. Breakfast Buffet (that we visited more than once) Dinner buffet, included drinks, and not just stingy ones, Mimosa’s, Bahama Mamas, Pina Coladas. The
Works...
Now of course this excited me a little, so after a couple of mimosa’s with breakfast (everyone was doing it. I asked for OJ) we made our way around to check out the ship. It had 2 lounge bars, a casino, a kids game room ( Wii, Table tennis etc), and a sun deck on top of the boat filled with banana lounges. The whole boat was serviced, so they would bring you drinks wherever you were.
The problem with this brilliant plan however, is that by 8am, it was hard to tell whether the boat was rocking or I was. Turns out it was fairly choppy and it was quite amusing to watch the whole boat stumbling around with vomit bags, holding their stomachs. It was only for a small portion of the trip but it did trigger our responsible... bone?
We found solace from the choppy seas on the sun deck. Being outside helped, as did laying down and just relaxing...Perhaps a little too much though, we had a snooze & got a little sun burnt.
So, we wake up, not too long after to continue with a few Cocktails and again wander the boat. We made some friends, and met some other people too. Ben had a quintessential one way conversation with your stereotypical black guy Damn!
The Bahamas Island we went to was the one closest to the coast of Florida, Grand Bahamas. Once we got to the island we were all herded much like sheep through the customs, again, then into taxi’s. We weren’t really too sure what was happening as we thought we were free to roam, but they advised we get in the cab as nothing was walking distance from the port. Once all this had occurred we were dropped at the beach and had just less than 2 hours to explore the area, and the Port Lucaya Shops and markets.
We had a lot of fun there; it was clearly a tourist hub as we were constantly being called out to & being coaxed into stores, with store owners seemingly desperate for our money. There was an abundance of beautiful traditional clothes though, but also lots of tacky tourist stuff.
The Beach was stunning, What you would expect I guess, Palm Trees, White Sand, Crystal Clear waters, it was breathtaking. It was sunny, but a little too cold to swim.
Once our time was up, we were again into the taxi to get back, and re-herded onto the boat for an evening of over indulgence. We drank less cocktails in the evening, as we had learnt from the morning. But definitely got our money’s worth. But we did lap up the buffet dinner. We played Wii, Chilled out on the Deck, and just generally wandered the boat.
Just before I jump into it, a quick update on our happenings since last post. Where we were staying in Ft Lauderdale was extremely nice. It was the Bridge At Cordova and comes highly recommended. Our room was great, we had a seperate kitchen, big screen TV with clear reception (Olympics & the All Star Game were on), Nice pool, and everyone was super friendly. The guy that checked us in was a douche, but thats a separate story. Anyway we have been there until today where we caught the early bus back to Orlando, and once again I come to you from Maccas Free Wi-fi.
So the cruise, It was priced quite nicely for a treat for us. $85 with taxes & Bahamas port charges, and that was all inclusive. Breakfast Buffet (that we visited more than once) Dinner buffet, included drinks, and not just stingy ones, Mimosa’s, Bahama Mamas, Pina Coladas. The
Works...Now of course this excited me a little, so after a couple of mimosa’s with breakfast (everyone was doing it. I asked for OJ) we made our way around to check out the ship. It had 2 lounge bars, a casino, a kids game room ( Wii, Table tennis etc), and a sun deck on top of the boat filled with banana lounges. The whole boat was serviced, so they would bring you drinks wherever you were.
The problem with this brilliant plan however, is that by 8am, it was hard to tell whether the boat was rocking or I was. Turns out it was fairly choppy and it was quite amusing to watch the whole boat stumbling around with vomit bags, holding their stomachs. It was only for a small portion of the trip but it did trigger our responsible... bone?
We found solace from the choppy seas on the sun deck. Being outside helped, as did laying down and just relaxing...Perhaps a little too much though, we had a snooze & got a little sun burnt.
So, we wake up, not too long after to continue with a few Cocktails and again wander the boat. We made some friends, and met some other people too. Ben had a quintessential one way conversation with your stereotypical black guy Damn!
The Bahamas Island we went to was the one closest to the coast of Florida, Grand Bahamas. Once we got to the island we were all herded much like sheep through the customs, again, then into taxi’s. We weren’t really too sure what was happening as we thought we were free to roam, but they advised we get in the cab as nothing was walking distance from the port. Once all this had occurred we were dropped at the beach and had just less than 2 hours to explore the area, and the Port Lucaya Shops and markets.
We had a lot of fun there; it was clearly a tourist hub as we were constantly being called out to & being coaxed into stores, with store owners seemingly desperate for our money. There was an abundance of beautiful traditional clothes though, but also lots of tacky tourist stuff.
The Beach was stunning, What you would expect I guess, Palm Trees, White Sand, Crystal Clear waters, it was breathtaking. It was sunny, but a little too cold to swim.
Once our time was up, we were again into the taxi to get back, and re-herded onto the boat for an evening of over indulgence. We drank less cocktails in the evening, as we had learnt from the morning. But definitely got our money’s worth. But we did lap up the buffet dinner. We played Wii, Chilled out on the Deck, and just generally wandered the boat.
We were fascinated by the whole aspect of having a time limit on what we were doing. Only having that time and then in groups being rushed back made us very very thankful we haven’t booked any tours or so forth. It is far too rushed, and because you rush to do it, I found we even finished kinda early because we were checking boxes as opposed to relaxing & taking it all in. Definitely was not my kind of travel.
The customs line to get back into the country was torture once we docked. We waited at least 45min for clearance to disembark and a further hour easily in queues to get to the customs officer. When we came into the country they asked if we were leaving & coming back and we answered no as at the time this was not planned, so we weren’t advised to constantly carry our Visa Waiver Forms, which caused a bit of a hassle. Apparently they shouldn’t have even let us on the boat without them. We thought the stamps in our passports were enough, evidently not. Was indeed a lesson well learnt. It’s probably something well known for regular travelers, but for any soon first timers. Carry it. Cranky customs are not nice. So all in all, it was a long day. We woke at 5.30am and got home well after 12…and had to get up early this morning to catch a bus, so we’re tired.
Although it may seem I have run it down in the post we had an amazing time, everything was in excess and as backpackers we don’t get to do that very often so it was lovely for many reasons. It I highly recommended to anyone wanting to do one, but I would probably prefer to stay for a day or two in the middle to not feel so pressured.
Great Day.
Hope everyone is well
Cheers
Mel xxx
The customs line to get back into the country was torture once we docked. We waited at least 45min for clearance to disembark and a further hour easily in queues to get to the customs officer. When we came into the country they asked if we were leaving & coming back and we answered no as at the time this was not planned, so we weren’t advised to constantly carry our Visa Waiver Forms, which caused a bit of a hassle. Apparently they shouldn’t have even let us on the boat without them. We thought the stamps in our passports were enough, evidently not. Was indeed a lesson well learnt. It’s probably something well known for regular travelers, but for any soon first timers. Carry it. Cranky customs are not nice. So all in all, it was a long day. We woke at 5.30am and got home well after 12…and had to get up early this morning to catch a bus, so we’re tired.
Although it may seem I have run it down in the post we had an amazing time, everything was in excess and as backpackers we don’t get to do that very often so it was lovely for many reasons. It I highly recommended to anyone wanting to do one, but I would probably prefer to stay for a day or two in the middle to not feel so pressured.
Great Day.
Hope everyone is well
Cheers
Mel xxx
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Miami Beach
So Far, it's a big call, but Florida is my favourite state. Whether that's because it's a welcome relief from the cold, or reminds me a touch of home, I'm not sure. But I love it here!!
Orlando/ Disneyworld was crazy...but Miami Beach has touched me, I would live here.
The beach itself is beautiful. In colour and appearance, it's like a really long Scarborough Beach. Covered with seats & umbrella's as all the resorts are just behind the boardwalk, and these are provided for guests. It's pretty much a pamphlet for the perfect beach vacation.
I think it's a mix of the palm tree's, the water and the lifestyle. We stayed up at Miami Beach in a bit of a shitty hotel. It was the most expensive accommodation we have had since we've been here, and were a little pissed off about that, but every time we walked out & in 2 minutes were at the beach. Every penny was worth it.
We woke up in the morning and went for a jog along the boardwalk, surrounded by palm trees and with the beautiful pools at the resorts on one side & the beach on the other. It actually gave me the motivation to jog...so I guess no more needs to be said!
We also ventured down to South Beach, the more populated area, and this is where alot of the culture comes into it. South Beach is the most recognisable section of the beach. It has the Art Deco area, bars & restaurants all along the coast road, tattoo stores everywhere ( and yes we went into Miami Ink - kinda the same as LA, no-one there of course) There is Cuban food everywhere, and everyone smokes Cuban Cigars. Shopping was heaps of fun too. There is lot of trashy stuff, and alot of really expensive stuff, but I got a nice maxi-dress and a cute short one from a Vintage store.
We went down just after Superbowl weekend so just missed a free concert with Rihanna, and a few other structures were being pulled down on the beach too - so you have to love the way it's utilized. looked like it may have been fun...Even with Rihanna. haha
The whole Miami beach area is extremely multicultural too, up near where we were there was a strong Jewish Presence, and as I mentioned, very Cuban/South American influence as well.
Anyway it was the kind of place you would vacation to - and never want to leave.
Since Miami Beach, we stayed in Downtown for a few days as well. A little different and a bit more urban, but near the water still incredible, markets and yachts/cruise ships everywhere We spent lots of time here dreaming of being rich...then eating Noodles & Mac and Cheese.
That's my Rant over. We are now in Ft Lauderdale, Enjoyed a lovely home cooked Valentine's dinner, and head on our Bahamas cruise in 2 days.
Very Happy, hope all is well at home
xxx
Orlando/ Disneyworld was crazy...but Miami Beach has touched me, I would live here.
The beach itself is beautiful. In colour and appearance, it's like a really long Scarborough Beach. Covered with seats & umbrella's as all the resorts are just behind the boardwalk, and these are provided for guests. It's pretty much a pamphlet for the perfect beach vacation.
I think it's a mix of the palm tree's, the water and the lifestyle. We stayed up at Miami Beach in a bit of a shitty hotel. It was the most expensive accommodation we have had since we've been here, and were a little pissed off about that, but every time we walked out & in 2 minutes were at the beach. Every penny was worth it.
We woke up in the morning and went for a jog along the boardwalk, surrounded by palm trees and with the beautiful pools at the resorts on one side & the beach on the other. It actually gave me the motivation to jog...so I guess no more needs to be said!
We also ventured down to South Beach, the more populated area, and this is where alot of the culture comes into it. South Beach is the most recognisable section of the beach. It has the Art Deco area, bars & restaurants all along the coast road, tattoo stores everywhere ( and yes we went into Miami Ink - kinda the same as LA, no-one there of course) There is Cuban food everywhere, and everyone smokes Cuban Cigars. Shopping was heaps of fun too. There is lot of trashy stuff, and alot of really expensive stuff, but I got a nice maxi-dress and a cute short one from a Vintage store.
We went down just after Superbowl weekend so just missed a free concert with Rihanna, and a few other structures were being pulled down on the beach too - so you have to love the way it's utilized. looked like it may have been fun...Even with Rihanna. haha
The whole Miami beach area is extremely multicultural too, up near where we were there was a strong Jewish Presence, and as I mentioned, very Cuban/South American influence as well.
Anyway it was the kind of place you would vacation to - and never want to leave.
Since Miami Beach, we stayed in Downtown for a few days as well. A little different and a bit more urban, but near the water still incredible, markets and yachts/cruise ships everywhere We spent lots of time here dreaming of being rich...then eating Noodles & Mac and Cheese.
That's my Rant over. We are now in Ft Lauderdale, Enjoyed a lovely home cooked Valentine's dinner, and head on our Bahamas cruise in 2 days.
Very Happy, hope all is well at home
xxx
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