Sunday 11 November 2012

28/10 - 04/11 London, England


London is incredible, it's like Newtown on steroids, everyone is friendly, everyone's there to have a good time, the night life is crazy, the shopping is ridiculous and the buskers sound better then what's on your radio.

Day 1 - Finally get to our hostel after a long hike with our heavy backpacks and we start getting ourselves ready for church. Church on halloween weekend isn't like a usual church; there's strippers, booze, and guys and girls dressed to impress! We got our face paint on and we're ready to party! Drinks flowing, good company, a wild experience in the church and a black cab home before 7pm, London is crazy.

Day 2 - Everyone's feeling weathered so we devour some free breakfast and hit Oxford St to spend our savings!

Day 3 - After spending the weekend in the colourful suburb of Kings Cross we pack up and move to Camden where we will be welcoming Finni after a long 2 months apart! While in a our hostel we run into an old mate from back home and had a Mexican fiesta and beers for dinner!

Day 4 - Being conveniently located minutes away from Camden markets means our wallets are growing smaller! We spent the morning browsing through vintage clothes and jewelry before heading back to our hostel to welcome Jacq and Annalise! We're all together again and ready for more halloween celebrations, we got dressed up and began pub crawling through Camden's back streets!

Day 5 - After a big night out and nursing a hefty hangover we went to Camden markets and had one last family dinner together at Thai before saying our goodbyes to the girls!

Day 6 - Early morning wake-ups, free breakfast and a sight seeing tour booked for today! We explored M&M world, gawked at the guards of buckingham palace, road the London eye to see London from the sky, took ridiculous tourist photos of the big Ben and the Abbeys that littered London and drove across the London bridge before getting home in time for dinner and a farewell drink to Finni!

Day 7 - It's our last full day here so we hit up Camden Markets and Oxford St to blow some last minute cash! For dinner us girls had an Italian feed together with wine and goodbyes.

Day 8 - It's officially the worst day of our travels, the flight home is in 10 hours and we're all feeling emotional already. After a quick run to Abbey Road to walk the same crossing as The Beatles we all meet up in central London with a friend from Mykonos for lunch; we ate bangers and mash overlooking the London canals and laughed at all our crazy adventures we'd had. Now back to our hostel to collect all our luggage, trek it to the station and say our final and teary goodbyes to the girls.

Europe, I'll be back soon!


Monday 29 October 2012

23/10 - 28/10 Paris, France


France is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world, filled with the rudest people, there are crepe stores on every street corner and just as many con artists. The landmarks are as magnificent as the baguettes and croissants, the night life is lively and the city is built on the love of hopeless romantics.

Day 1 - Check in late, dump our bags and walked our way to the Sacre Cour, we ran from cons and climbed the stairs to the top for a 360 degree view of Paris sparkling at night. From here we went to the Moulin Rouge and explored the colorful red light district.

Day 2 - Early wake ups to change hostels, rude encounters with the french and a hop on hop off bus tour booked. We went to the Arc De Triomphe, Norte Dame, The Eiffel Tower and did a sight seeing tour of Paris. After a big day of being tourists we got a feed and hit the hay at the famous St. Christopher's inn.

Day 3 - Changing hostels, crepes on the run and a visit to The Louvre to get cultured and see some of the most well known artworks in the world - including the Mona Lisa! For dinner we're off to african.

Day 4 - Late wake ups, free breakfast and a visit to Jim Morrison's grave to give some flowers and respect to one of musics greatest. On our way back
we stopped by to visit the grave of Oscar Wild before running home in the rain!

Day 5 - Free breakfast and a trek in the almost sub-zero Paris weather to buy our boyfriends Love Locks to hang on the infamous love lock bridge - made famous by the thousands of love birds wanting to leave their locks of love forever in the heart of Paris. For a late dinner we went to the Cafe Des 2 Moulins, the same cafe Amelie was filmed and made famous in!

Paris was an amazing city very worthy of experiencing but for now we're off to London town!

Wednesday 24 October 2012

21/10 - 23/10 Brugge, Belgium

Brugge is like looking at a thousand Monet paintings in real life. Everything is beautifully old and preserved, the castles and town houses look like they're bleeding into the canals and the reflection of the forrest in the water is almost as perfect as the chocolates on display in every shop window.

Day 1 - While we were booking our eurotrip we spontaneously decided that after 7 weeks of hostel living it would be a good idea to go all out in Belgium and stay in a 12 century medieval castle, and that's exactly what we were welcomed with. A lengthy walk through cornfields and paddocks brought us to a bridge over a moat to the entrance of the castle, we are met with our caretaker and taken to the top tower of the castle to our rooms! This place is definitely haunted and we're all feeling uneasy.

To get to dinner we have to walk through a pitch black forrest filled with bats, however the walk was well worth it when you are greeted with the meals we were - traditional Belgium meat cooked on the fire in front of us!

Day 2 - Buffet breakfast ft Celine dion, a medieval dining room and a view of the castles courtyard! We get ready for a day of sightseeing, catch the bus into town, had a decent feed in the picturesque town square and visited the chocolate museum to spurge on one to many Belgium chocolates. We decided to boycott the daunting forrest and have a meal of cheese and crackers in our decorative living room with champagne to farewell our brief royal lifestyle.

Off to Paris now for baguettes, snails, frogs legs and the Eiffel tower!

Tuesday 23 October 2012

15/10 - 21/10 Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Amsterdam is the place where all the crazies go to sell weed to tourists, everyone commutes on bikes, there's hookers on display in windows, buskers litter the streets, coffee shops don't sell coffee and the weather is always wet.

Day 1 - 16 hours stuck in a train booth and we are finally here, we hop in a taxi and make our way to our home for the week - The flying pig uptown! After dumping our bags we tram it to Damsquare to shop around and take a walk through the infamous red light district. We hurry home after our adventure to get ready for a pub crawl through Amsterdam's lively back streets!

Day 2 - Feeling weathered we drag ourselves to the square for all you can eat ribs and spent the day giggling at hookers while we explored the red light district and made a pit stop to the flower market.

Day 3 - After an early morning hostel breakfast feed we made our way to the Heineken experience tour to brew and drink some decent booze. From here we visited a local coffee shop for chill times and had a traditional Italian dinner!

Day 4- With Amsterdam's colourful culture always on display around the city we decided to visit The sex museum for laughs but not before blowing some cash at a dutch lolly shop nearby, perfect wet weather day in!

Day 5 - Once again we trekked it to all you can eat ribs for breakfast, the others spent the day bike riding while i remained sick in bed.

Day 6 - Last full day in the city that never sleeps! Had an early morning run through the red light, walked through Vondelpark and visited the world renown tattoo museum. After a big week here we stayed in and cooked a home made pasta dish at the hostel!

Day 7 - Early morning wake up to pack up, check out and make our way to the Anne Frank Haus to view one of the original hiding spots used by the jewish Frank family during the time of the holocaust.

See you later Amsterdam, you were a party that never stopped but now we are off to Brugge, Belgium to indulge in chocolates and waffles!!!


Tuesday 16 October 2012

12/10-14/10 Copenhagen, Denmark

Copenhagen, Denmark is one of the most beautiful places in the world, even the locals look like they just walked off the runway. The town is made up of high-class shops to small quaint boutiques and cafes, there are subtle castles lurking around and streets that look like postcards.

Day 1 - Get to our hostel and the streets are littered with people, it's culture day here and everyone is in full blown party mode! We climbed the stairs to our matchbox rooms, got ready and got a feed while watching the festivities happen out front of our window!

Day 2 - Up early for a bite to eat in the picturesque town square! We then shopped around, played in the Disney house and went on a walking adventure to find the royal palace and princess Mary. After taking a detour through a park we found ourselves in a military quarter, looking like something out of a medieval movie we took photos and explored around to find the famous mermaid statue on the water! On our way back to the hostel we found a Riley's museum and made a pit stop to check out all the freaks and geeks of the world!

After a big day and feeling exhausted we decided to hit up the famous amusement park Tivoli for a fun way to say goodbye to Copenhagen! We scaled huge rollercoasters, gawked at patrons dressed in full halloween gear
and lived like kids for a few hours before hitting the hay to get ready for a 16hr train trip to the crazy city of Amsterdam!!