Through my eyes Part 1

So here are the long awaited photos from my travels, as I cant bring myself to write anything more just yet, I'm just enjoying living in the moment right now.
I'll start from the beginning...

Street Art in Berlin

The most perfect strawberry

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin

One of the millions of bikes in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Canal

Inside the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi Cathedral,

Barcelona

More of Barcelona

Sunset in Nice

Aix en Provence

Florence

Venice

Buda-best

Just when I thought Europe couldn't get any better, I stumble upon Budapest. 
(Pronounced Buda-pesht by the locals)
Home of the Rubix cube and the ball point pen, this city had me at "szia".

Autumn colours paint the street, leaves fall to the ground ready to be stepped on to create a satisfying crunch. Having no direction, no time limit, no place to be, the  city is ready to be lost in by those game enough to step off the beaten track. The air is crisp as a warning of the coming winter, but the sun still shines brightly onto my face. Untainted by the need to please tourists passing through, the city is genuinely calming and peaceful. 

Imagination and creativity is seeping from every crevice, waiting to be discovered and enjoyed. Live music can be heard every night, from folk music in a stone walled pub to easy jazz in an club with a ceiling opened up to the starry night sky. To help keep warm through the long nights many delicious beers and local spirits quench my thirst. The abundance of friendliness is comforting and I never drink alone. 

Through stained glass doors, down the dark stoned staircase I follow the smell of roasted meats. Here we discover a medieval dungeon restaraunt with belly dancers and fire twilers for entertainment while we await our meal. A tray is delivered to our table with three ceramic jugs overflowing with beer. Then placed directly in front of us is a feast fit for a king: fried pork knuckle, leg of turkey, a mountain of vegetables consisting of carrots, corn, egg plant and zucchini. After the meal is devoured we venture to a near by local pub and watch a folk band playing violins, cellos and the double bass while couples dance close as if no one was watching. 

To absorb the remaining alcohol from the night before, for breakfast I try some tradtional Hungarian food- deep fried dough smothered in garlic paste, sour cream and topped with a mass of grated cheddar. My taste buds are delighted by the flavours and this meal soon becomes a favourite of the entire trip. After wandering the streets, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring many beautiful buildings and shop fronts we are in desperate need for a break. The menu chosen is omlette with pesto and a side of fresh salad, then to top it off- pancakes filled with cottage cheese, rolled in icing sugar with frozen berries and vanilla bean icecream on the side. 

Halfway through my stay here, I find myself a lone traveller. My companion heads off to the land of the Brits and I stand on the street watching the tail lights of her taxi disappear into the distance. 

When my visit is drawing to a close, my energy is finally drained and a day of relaxation is required. Turkish styled baths are a great place to forget about all your troubles and melt into the earth for a few hours. Steam rises off the thermal heated water and for a time the cold air is forgotten. Making a quick run for the sauna we are shocked by the heat that hits us with such force. Eyeballs almost melt in the close to 100 degrees Celsius room, and we can't stay for long. At the end of the day my energy has reignited it's flame and I find myself eager to hit the road once more.


"What is the feeling when you're  driving away from people and they recede on the plain until you see their specks dispersing? 
It's the too huge world vaulting us, 
And it's goodbye. 
But we lean forward to the next crazy adventures beneath the skies..."
- Jack Kerouac 

Czeching out Prague

Disneyland move over, there's a new magical land in town!

Once upon a time in a far away land, in a city called Prague, you need to see to understand.
The magical castle high up on the hill, is the largest and oldest of its kind to be standing still. 
Its gothic gargoyles and high pointed towers, make you dream of princesses and wizards with powers.
While it would be good if I could carry on rhyming all day, Im just not that skilled, but keep reading anyway!

One cold autumn day, a train carrying two princesses flew through the mountains of Austria and into the land of Czech Republic. Snow had already begun to settle on the peaks while the sun shone brightly through the misty morning sky. Pine trees tower above the carriage and over the forrest, leaves of green starting to glow orange, yellow and red. While wiping the sleep from her eyes, one princess thought she had woken up on the otherside of the ward drobe, and was waiting for Aslan to come out of the trees at any moment. 
The ice cold air was a painful shock to the body, and the girls were desperate to find shelter fast inside the castle (Hostel Elf). 
After warming up the princesses decided to explore the Royal Gardens. As they wandered through the citrus trees, 2 little squirrells- one black, one red, scurried accross the grass, leaping and bounding, furroging for food to hord during the winter. 
Hot chocolate and fresh spiralled doughnuts rolled in cinamon and sugar kept the girls happy and warm. As they reached the end of the castle grounds the view of the entire kingdom took their breath away. Thousands of terracotta tiled roof tops, the famous clock tower, Powder tower and many other church steeples and basilicas can been seen. It seemed to go on forever. Walking down the stone steps back to the main village the smell of hot foods waft through the air, tempting the tastebuds. Fried pork knuckle was devoured, with a side of potato dumplings, and the crackle was the crispiest and juciest they had every tried. Over the course of their stay countless delicious beers were consumed, to keep them warm...
Back at the castle some royalty from Argentinia and Uraguay were playing a small guitar. One princess also new how to play and they all ended staying up til the early morning playing music and singing songs, a perfect way to end a perfect day.

One day while exploring the streets they came upon a fellow prince they knew  from their home town. Spontaneously the prince decided to join them for the day, venturing out to the neighbouring village of Kutna Hora. Here they visited a church elaborately decorated by the bones of deceased victims of massacres and war. As the candle light flickered casting shadows into the eyes of the skulls the three of them left for fear that the skulls would come back to life. Many lovely stories and experiences were shared between the three of them that day, it was almost like they were back home for a moment. 
The prince also had his own princess with him so as a group they went out to a local Inn, where they danced with other folk to a Czech music band, had their portraits drawn, drank beers and became merrier by the minute. Then two of the princesses decided to explore another bigger 'Inn' by the name of Cross Club. With 5 stories and decorated like something from a science fiction movie it proved to be a great night filled with dancing and drinking til the early hours of the morning. Upon return one princess couldn't sleep and ended up accidently waking up the prince and staying up all night playing backgamon and checkers. 

During their visit, the princesses met up with a wise Wizard who gave them a tour of the whole kingdom and taught them about the interesting history of the land. The Czech people were in many wars, and often lost many good lives during battle. They have a long and sad history, however they had a happy ending eventually.
More delicious foods were eaten including Old Prague Ham, klobásy- sausage, Cabbage with potato and bacon, pretzels, potato dumplings... The list goes on!

Sadly though, like all good fairytales they must come to an end. So the princesses packed up their belongings and boarded a train to leave this magical land, off to live happily ever after... Til their next stop anyway.

That's Amore

Place: Florence
What to do:
~Stay at Archi Rossi Hostel, you get free breakfast of eggs and bacon sandwiches, as well as free walking tours
~ See the Dome, a magnificent green, white and pink marble cathedral. Once the biggest in Europe
~ See David (we unfortunately missed out due to a conference that didnt allow entry to the public). However you can see the place where the original David once stood in front of an old Palace
~ Many other beautiful chuches with marble walls and both rennaissance and gothis designs
~ Learn about the amazingly long history of the city which was once the capital of Italy
~ Go to Space Electronica, learn how to say "I am a student in Florence" in Italain to get in for free, meet american army guys who take you into the VIP area and give you free Red Bull Vodka and a vowl of amazing pineapple
~ Watch and enjoy live music in the main square under the monlight and stars, while the magical carousel goes around in the background
~ Eat some of the best gelati you've ever had in your life!
~ Take a day trip to Pisa and mock all the other tourists taking their ridiculous pictures. Then shamefully join in and do it as well...
~ Visit the beautiful Cinque Terra beaches, see breathtaking sights from up high of the vast blue ocean and monstrous cliffs

What not to do:
~ Stay for longer than 4 days, you will run out of (free) things to do
~ Eat at 'Little David' restaraunt, the service is bad, they gave me almost fluro green apple juice that tasted like liquid roll-up, which would be ok if I hadnt been craving REAL juice and the carbonara was a major dissapointment
~ Blaspheme in the Pope's house


Place: Venice
What to do:
~ Walk along the canals admiring the gondolas and the beautiful men with lovely singing voices and striped shirts rowing them
~ Visit St Marks Square
~ Get freaked out by the copius amount of masks in shop windows. though there were a few very special ones which I liked
~ Visit the free art exhibitions, we saw a display of controversial paintings of circumstances like a headless Ronald McDonald, naked Marge Simpson and the worst of all- Little Red Riding Hood committing beastialty. Artist name was Giuseppe Veneziano.
~ Get the most amazing tiramasu and have the waitress forget to charge you for it!!
~ Buy a pear and chocolate pie- to die for.
~ Convince a stupid Californian that Aussies spell 'cats' like 'kats', the logic being that kitten starts with a 'K', and Americans spell 'Mum' - 'Mom' so its plausible.

What Not to do:
~ Stay longer than a day or 2, you can literally walk around the entire main city in 4 hours and see everything worth seeing. If you walk any longer you end up walking in circles and ending back in St Marks square everytime
~ Stay at Plus Venice, atleast in low season. As they will close the pool the day you arrive, are quite far away from the main city, and if you stay in a bungalow not only will you accidently lock yourselves in within 5 minutes of arriving, but you will be awake all night feeling like you're sleeping through an earthquake as people move in connected houses and your bathroom will be invaded by a giant mosquito which will in turn force you to shower etc elsewhere for the remainder of the day

Place: Rome
What to do:
Everything! 'When in Rome', right?
But seriously...
~ Make a wish in the Trevi Fountain
~ Remaniss about how awesome the film Gladiator is while walking around the impressive Colloseum
~ Find the Pantheon, which can be difficult when you don't know what it is you're looking for. Its magnificance is undescribable- as the largest dome until the 9th Century, its shear size for its age and its amazing architectural design is jaw-dropping
~ Eat the most gelati you've ever had in one sitting and subsequently experience a huge sugar high
~ Bump into Canadians you met in Venice
~ Meet a young Aussie couple who have a jar of Vegemite, befriend them, gain their trust, and taste some on your finger because its only the 3rd time in almost 3 months that you've had it!
~ Meet one of the only Perth people from the entire trip, and find out she was 2 years ahead of you at your High School, and be reminded that the world is SUCH a small place
~ Eat at the restaraunt next to Yellow Hostel, the pasta is amazing, you get free bruscetta before the meal is served and the wait staff are ridiculously friendly and charming. 
~ Drink delicious Belgium beer that tastes like liquid salami 

What Not to do:
~ Choose the cheapest restaraunt on the main road, as the food you order will be cooked in bulk like on a school camp and warmed up in the microwave right before your eyes
~ Eat the whole basket of free bread you're given before a meal, as this will result in you being filled with bread and struggling to finish your bowl of pasta, and make your waiter mock you for it when you return to the same restaraunt the next day. 
~ Do the Pub Crawl that Jeff reccommends, even though he makes it sound like it will be the best night ever. You will end up lining for ages for drinks, which end up being 90% bad vodka with a drop of OJ and actually undrinkable
~ Try Fosters beer for the first time, one pint will give you a killer head ache the next morning

Nice is nice

So I'm thinking that my blogs are starting to get a little monotonous, so I'm going to try and mix it up a bit and hopefully  make it a more interesting read.

Where: Nice
When: Early September
Who: Charlie, Ashlei, Aussie couple who gave us some great tips for traveling in Turkey and many new backpacking friends
How: Train from Barcelona
Feelings (in order):
Day 1: Ridiculously hungover, tired, hungry.
Day 2-4: Refreshed, hungry, excited, optimistic, delighted, hungry, amused, entertained, hungry, full, sleepy. Repeat.
Activities: Explored Old Town, Contemporary Art Gallery where we saw some amazing sculptures by Yves Klein and other amazing artists, day trip to Cannes and Monaco (>See also Monaco below), Waynes Bar
Beverages: Water, cheap-ass beer, even cheaper white wine, free red wine from some locals
Foods: Baguettes, Croissants, Toast with Nutella and Jam, Macarons *, Gelati **, Homemade pasta, Camembert, Soca (traditional Nice food- savoury buckwheat crepe with salad and tuna), Mussels***
Likes: Friendly people, beautiful buildings, wonderful sun shining everyday, romantic language
Dislikes: Pebbles on the beach, Nightlife ends around 1:30am


* Flavours: Chocolate, Hazelnut, Nutella, Coffee, Rasberry and Passionfruit & Basil
** Flavours: Speculose ( like gingersnap biscuits from Belgium), Passionfruit, Coffee, Chocolate biscuit.
*** Charlie got food poisoning from them 2 years ago, this was her first attempt to eat them since then. after 4 or 5 she couldn't eat any more so our German friend, Erik, who already had Mussels for his entre, offered to eat her main of Mussels as well and gave her his main of Soca. Such a gentleman.

>Where: Monaco
When: One day during our stay in Nice
How: Awesome scenic bus drive through hills and along the sunshine coast
Feelings: Excitement
Sight seeing: Princes Palace where Grace Kelly lived, Monte Carlo Casino which is larger than life!

Where: Marseille
When: Mid September
How: Train
Activities: Bumped into friends we met in Barcelona a week beforehand, Day trip to Aix en Provence where we saw live music in the streets, window shopped and saw some amazing clothes and shoes that I had to fight really hard not to buy! Ventured to the beach which ended up being the biggest adventure yet! Had to scale down the side of a mountain, in our thongs, in the sweltering heat, only to reach the bottom and find a beach of pebbles and ice cold water. We stayed for about half an hour, but we were worried that we wouldn't be able to scale back up the mountainside before dark and I was certain we would be spending the night in the woods with the mountain lions and goats. So we started our journey back up, enjoyed the wonderful view of white cliffs which meet the ocean, and made it up in record time.
Learnt how to play checkers and absolutely owned at my first game, taught the rules of Circle of Death to foreigners, played and won numerous times at Connect four and Jenga.
Who: Essendon supporter (HAH), Canadian from Edmington who has experienced weather of -40 degrees during the day in his home town, an American who is living in Marsielle and can do the best Family Guy impressions I have ever heard, English guy who studies at Oxford and was living in Japan at the time of the Earthquake- luckily had decided to cancel his trip to Tokyo a couple of days beforehand by chance, Swiss guy who is studying Photography in Nice, and a Sydney writer/ linguist who told me about WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms).

And here concludes our adventures in France. Definitely didn't stay long enough and am dying to come back next year to see more!

The Not-So-Lonely Island of Mallorca

So I'm sure once in a while everyone has had some time to kill, and a cafe is usually a place one can go to help pass the time relatively quickly. However, after 8 hours in our 'cafeteria' seats on the ferry from Valencia to Mallora (ma-yor-ca) it's safe to say I wont be visiting another cafe anytime soon. 
On arrival to our hostel we were delighted by the presence of 2 gorgeous hostel dogs and a large swimming pool on the terrace. So while we waited to check in we dipped our feet in, played with the dogs and lay in the sun. After checking in we were told the beach was literally across the road and down the stairs, so we got down there pretty fast. 
Charlie had sought out employment during her stay on the island, so we went to the town she was working in- Magaluf, to check it out. We also found out an old friend of hers was also on the island, and infact in a hotel around the corner, so ended up spending the next couple of days with them on the beach, curing our hangovers from the wild parties from the nights before. 
If you picture Bali, then replace all the Aussies with young Brits, then that is essentially Magaluf. As you're walking down the main strip after 7pm it is lined with Promo guys and girls, who will do anything to get you to come into their club or pub. One guy literally slung my small friend over his shoulder and tried to take her in, to which I was outraged and yelled "put my midget down!" For we were heading to our favourite club called Mulligans, which I liked to call 'Funnigans', no one else seemed to apreciated my witticism though. Here we were given unlimited drinks, no catch, for €6, until 4am. Suffice to say, we (mainly I), went a little overboard and I ended up crashing on a lilo on my friends hotel room floor for 3 subsequent nights. 
Our last night before I headed to another quieter town was by far the best. It all started when Tishy had gotten red raw sunburnt and could only wear her PJs without being in pain. So, being the good friends we are, Charlie and I decided we would also wear our PJs. This then developed into us staging a fake hens night for our mate, Molly, who was repping a skin tight leopard print dress. The story we wove was one of true love; Milly had met Enrique Sanchez the year before in Magaluf, along with all of us. We had all instantly bonded and had come back to celebrate their marriage at the magical Magaluf where their love began. Most people I think, totally baught it. And for those who questioned us, we had our stories all worked out and that seemed to sell them. The night was filled with copious amounts of drink, dance and laughter. However at somepoint I lost everyone and ended up walking home cold and lonely at 6 in the morning.
After three hours sleep, we had to get up and checkout, so went a lay by the side of the pool until we had to catch our respective buses and planes out of Magaluf.

While Charlie stayed behind and worked, I travelled over to the quiet side of the island to a town called Alcudia. Here I went for long walks along the beach, taking occasional dips in the water when the sun got too hot (which was quite often). The nights were kind of lonely, it was the first time Charlie and I had seperated since starting our travels more than a month before. 
One day I spent bike riding around to all the different secluded beaches, trying to find some peace and quiet away from all the families on the main beach. I left the hostel at 9 am and got home at 6pm, I was pretty damn tired after trekking up the hills on my 5 geared bike, so I pretty much crashed as soon as I hit the bed. The sights had been beautiful though and totally worth the splitting head ache I got from being in the sun all day. 
On my last day I went to the markets and splurged a little, buying a cute lace vest, some nice roman sandals and 250g of the most delicious and soft dried apricots I have ever had.

On returning to Magaluf for Charlie and my last night on the island, we decided a big night was the best way to say goodbye. We walked up the streets, trying to find a Promo guy to give us a good deal, and sure enough, at Tokyo Joes they gave us FREE drinks, no catch, until 2 am- we literally didn't pay a cent all night, it was great. 

The next morning we caught a 20minute flight to Barcelona, where we chilled out for a couple of days, trying to figure out where to head to next. We booked an early train to Nice, however got convinced to go out the night before by our room mates. While I had only been keen for a quiet night, I ended up stumbling back to the hostel at 6:30am, only to be woken by my room mate at 7:30am telling me I have to get up or I'm going to miss my train at 8:30! We made it just in time, though the transit was a bitch to do hungover.

Now we have to get all the Spanish words out of our heads, which we had grown so use to using over the past month, and start learning some French!

Did someone say "Tomato"?

After catching our first train on our eurail passes, we arrived in Valencia in the stinking hot afternoon heat. With the temperature rising we were grateful for the fully airconditioned bus to our hostel. From our short trip on the bus we could already see how different Barcelona and Valencia were. While Barcelona buildings were classic mediterranean styled apartment blocks of reds and browns with balconies covered in a variety of pot plants, Valencia had an classical elegance to its architecture, with detailed plaster mouldings on the top of every building and lovely warm pastel colours. 
We arrived at our hostel on 'Tequilla Sunrise' night, and seeing as we both despise the substance, we decided to venture out for a nice cold cervesa. We were informed that the following night was themed 'Sex on the Beach', to which Charlie responded excitedly "what does that involve?", only to be dissapointed to learn it meant the cocktail was half price that night.
So we asked to be pointed in the direction of the cheapest tapas bar, which was around the corner, where we enjoyed a couple of pints and the most delicious potatoe omlette we had in Spain. 
The next night we enjoyed numerous cocktails, during happy hour they were only €1.50!!! Met some cool Aussies and drank too much, resulting in me passing out and Charlie kicking on into the night for a pub crawl. 
The beach was nicer here, less people and the water was much cleaner, so we spent most of our days attempting to compete with the beautiful Spanish skin tone, failing miserably but trying our darndest to match. 
Mojito night was my favourite, though we did have to add an extra tablespoon of sugar to each drink. But hey, they were only €1.50 so I wasn't complaining. 

Then came the moment we'd been waiting for, what we'd been longing for over the last month- La Tomatina!
For those uneducated as to what this is, it's the largest organized tomato fight, and it happens every year at the end of August, a couple of kms out of Valencia. Two days before the fight we trecked our way out to a small beach town to a campsite called Camp Coll Vert, where we were camping it up with hundreds of fellow Aussies on a Fanatics Tour. 
Many stories were swapped of travels leading up to the tour, drinking games with novelty giant cards and a giant game of Twister. For the entirety of the tour a universal rule was introduced by the camp leaders: you weren't allowed to say the word "mine". It was ALOT harder than it sounds, and the punishment was drop and give them 20 pushups. As the night grew more rowdy, my body was aching from the excessive excercise. 
We met up with travellers met previously on our Adventures, and suprised by old friends aswell. Its not just Perth thats small, its the whole bloody world!

And now for the day of the fight. We'd been drinking the night before and I'd asked a friend to wake me up at 6 am, so we could make the bus for 6.30 to head to the fight. However at 7am pots were bangong outside our tent, trying to gather up those who failed to hear their alarms or just hit snooze too many times. Aka Charlie and I. Just making the bus we were still slightly enebriated from the night before and were super keen to see those tomatoes. 
While waiting patiently by the side of the road, minding my own business (there was still 3 hrs till the fight would begin), all of a sudden I feel like I've been hit in the back with a cricket bat. I spin around to see a sloppy tomato lying guiltily on the road. While I knew I was going to get hit by atleast 1 tomato that day, I wasn't quite prepared for the early misfire. However after finally composing myself we continued to walk down to find where the party was at. After standing in the sun in a tiny street crowded with thousands of eager tomatoe lovers, we still didn't see a single tomato in what seemed like hours. Certain that we'd missed the fight because we could not move any further along the street because of the crowd, we accepted it and were ready to call it quits. Then came a sudden bang and a roar of excitment, and we knew that the fight had finally just begun. Over the next hour or so pickup trucks drove up the street, filled to the brim with slushy, smelly, succulent tomatoes. Picture in your mind the most intense mosh pit you've ever experienced x100 and add in a few thousand tomatoes and the stench of vomit (the tomatoes) rising in the thick, hot air, and you may be able to imagine what it was like. There were moments when I was ready to say goodbye to Charlie for the last time and accepted it was my time to die. However I can proudly say that I have survived to tell the tale. This is a must do when going to Europe and I would recommend anyone to do it! Though it did mean I didn't want to eat, let alone see or smell a tomato for atleast a week. 
After washing ourselves off at the beach we were ready for a siesta, so snoozed on the sand til it was time for the farewell party. Near the end of the night/ early in the morning, a small group of us sat by a bonfire on the beach, too tired to speak so just soaked in the heat of the fire until one by one we dissapeared to our tents.

Not sure what our next plan of action was, we spontaneously booked ourselves on an 8hr ferry to Mallorca, one of the Balearic islands off the East coast of Spain. 

Stay tuned for the next chapter of the AKP and Charlies Adventures.

Adios

"Cervesa, agua, coca-cola, beer?"

Beach, beers, bars and beauty are 4 words that instantly spring to mind when thinking back to our time spent in Barcelona. On arrival, we discovered that once again, our timing perfectly coincided with a huge festival; Fiesta Gracias. On a number of nights we ventured to the center of it all where we stumbled across something none of us were expecting. ( 'We' in Barcelona, consisted of Charlie, myself and our good mate Lloyd who we convinced while drunk in Amsterdam to join us for the week). 
The streets were filled with what seemed like thousands of people, and decorated with the most elaborate art. Down the themed back streets we found huge roosters made from squashed waterbottles, rubber flies hanging from balconies, papermache ghosts, under the sea creatures including a giant Spongebob Square pants and a collection of giant scissors. However one of our favourites was in the center square- from the ceiling hung huge matches; some with celophane flames, others burnt to a crisp and surrounding the tent were giant matchboxes. The effort that must have gone into the preparation is inconceivable and we were in constant awe of the scale of the event. After exploring we sat down near a stage drinking our €1 cervesa (beer) and €4 mojitos and listened to a spanish punk band play. 
During the day we spent hours soaking up the suns rays and swimming in the  calm Sea, while listening to the constant chant "cervesa, coca-cola, agua, beer?" by men trying to make a living off us poor souls who just want to enjoy a nice quiet time on the beach. However some of us did indulge in a few cervesas on the sand...
With some new friends from our hostel: Vancouver (we found out after he left his name was Max by looking at the name he wrote on his sandwhich he left behind) and Emma from Adelaide, we made the treck early in the morning to see the Sagrada Familia, the gigantic cathedral designed by the genius Gaudi. Words cannot describe the size or beauty of the building, its just something you have to see for yourself. But maybe wait until 2030 to visit as that is when they estimate construction will be completed (after more than 100 years of building).  We also went on the free Gaudi walking tour and visited his famous apartment buildings which were also very impressive. 
Taking full advantage of anything free on our very limited budget, we also went on the walking tour through the Gothic Center where we learnt about the history and creation of Barcelona back during the Roman Empire and saw some gorgeous old buildings. Many photos were taken, however you will just have to wait a little longer before i figure out how to upload them. 
On two of the nights we were taken out on pub crawls from our hostel,  the second night we went to a club called 'Cupcake', which we're pretty sure was a gay club...don't know why we didn't guess that from the name.
After 5 days we were not fully satisfied with our stay, so we went and moved to a more central part of town to one of the best hostels I think we will ever stay in. There was tapas, beer pong and free midnight feeds from new drunk friends. On our second last night we decided to commit to what we thought was a pub crawl, however once getting on the bus with fellow drunkards, we realized we were infact being taken to a huge pool party. I know what you're thinking- awesome, right? However not for me, who had decided it was uneccissary to wear my bather top on a pub crawl, or a bra seeing as my top was quite loose fitting (and I'm half hippe on the inside). So we rocked up at the pool to disover hundreds of people dancing, drinking and swimming around this huge pool. Charlie, being the good friend she is, leant me her singlet to swim in, so ot all turned out OK in the end. We met some delightful French boys and danced and swan the night away. When the music stopped we were outraged!- only to discover it was 5am and the buses were here to pick us up. Needless to say it was a pretty epic night. 
Though it wasn't just the beer and mojitos we enjoyed in Barcelona, there was much Sangria to be drunk by those who enjoyed it and delicious tapas including traditional spanish potatoe omelette, chorizo, green peppers, meatballs in salsa and fried fish. Though one tapas that confused us was the 'cheese tacos' which ended up being a plate of cubed cheddar cheese with a green olive on top. Not quite what we were expecting but hey, who can say no to a plate of tasty cheese?
And there drew a close to our adventures in 'Barthelona', next stop: Valencia. But more about that later, my busy little typing fingers need a break. 

Amsterdamaged.

So we survived Amsterdam- just. After almost missing our flight we finally made it to our hostel in the dead centre of the red light district. As soon as i stepped onto the street I could already tell it was not going to be anything like Berlin. There were rowdy young tourists everywhere, shop fronts filled with oversized condoms, leather bound mannicans and sexy woman in limited clothing. Smoke fills the streets as overly-smiley people walk out of the coffee shops, and they head towards the nearest food store- which match the number of coffee shops. Their shelves are filled with giant pizzas, hot dogs with bacon and chees on top (this is absolutely delicious by the way, try it at home), strawberry tarts covered with cream, the list goes on. 
Randomly coincided with our Aussies: Lloyd, Dave and Akash again, so convinced Lloyd to join us for a big night. We met downn at the Irish bar connected to our hostel with some newly aquainted Americans, where we enjoyed 2 for 1 Heinekin and 10 Jager shots for €10!!! As you can imagine, the night proved to be quite crazy. Went on a pub crawl which took us to about 5 clubs, of which we only made it to about 4, from what I remember. We miraculously found our way home, which was quite a feat considering all the streets look exactly the same.
Most of the next day was spent recovering, however we did manage to venture out of the red light district to find ourselves a nice, secluded coffee shop which played the likes of Bob Marley and The Beatles. We then took to discovering the wonderful streets of Netherlands 'Suburbia', where there are beautiful canals lined with cobbled streets, bicycles scattered next to every tree and apartments of every clour. When we were tired from walking we stopped by a canal, watched some boats and white swans float by, and treated ourselves to a coffee and a crusty bread roll covered with tomato, mozarella and bazil. It's safe to say, we were in heaven. 
The next two nights were filled with pub crawls, clubs, countless free shots and many short-lived friendships with fellow crawlers. I made the discovery of the pun 'Hamsterdam' and thought it would be a great idea to get this as a tattoo with a little hamster running in a ball. Don't worry, I realized it was a bad idea before it was too late.
We managed to make it to the Van Gogh museum which was very impressive, seeing the famous sun flowers was one of the highlights. His  style is so unique and his life an intersting but depressing one. Was great to see such brilliant art in person, to see the detail a picture on the internet just can't duplicate. 

Sorry my blogs have included no pictures yet, I will try put some up eventually. But for now, my words will have to suffice. Currently in Barcelona having a wonderful time in the sun, but I will write more about it later. 

Journey to The Best City in the World

Guten tag followers,

My god has it been an amazing couple of weeks. London was great, met some wonderful Canadians at our first backpackers and were up until 4am each morning swapping jokes and quirks about our respective countries. Yes, we have alerted them about the infamous drop bears so they will be fully prepared when they venture down under.
Then, after catching up with my favourite Aussie-Pol, Maja, she passed on her cold to us and we were ridiculously sick on our 4th day in the UK. So, feeling like death, we took refuge in Charlies Grans wee-cottage in Heacham, just a 2hour train ride from London. We explored Charlies home town, Hunstanton, where we visited her family home, middle school, the place she smoked her first cigarette and held hands with a boy, and the local sea-side fair ground. After begging me, I finally caved and went on a spinning ride of death, and almost yacked. Good times.
Then on our return to London we explored the city on a free walking tour, met up with fellow Aussie travelers Lloyd and Dave and learnt about the crazy drunk Irishman who broke into Buckingham palace in the 80s, ate a can of dog food which he opened with a knife, found his way to the Queens private bedroom, woke her up and asked her for a cigarette. What a lad.

Now while London wasn't a compete failure, it was nothing compared to what I think will always be the best city in the world- Berlin.
Within 2 hours of arrival I was in love with its most beautiful, old architecture, cobbled streets, vibrant atmosphere and surprisingly friendly people. We were sitting at a cafe by the river drinking coffee with a croissant, when all of a sudden a flock of about 30 sparrows swarmed us at our table, chirping away and eating our crumbs. It was so adorable.
The hostel was amazing, met some cool Irish guys that took us out to a pub crawl which stopped first under a random bridge where someone was waiting with a keg of beer for us! To be honest the rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but I'm pretty sure we had a great night. The next 3 nights were pretty much a repeat of that, meeting Dutch, Aussies, French, German and Swedish people who were all keen to party hard.
During the day there was so much culture to soak in, with a beer festival, legalizing marijuana parade, there was never a dull moment.
However, like all good things, it had to come to an end. So for the last couple of days we chilled out, went on the greatest free walking tour with an amazing guide. He really opened my eyes to the amazing things that have happened in this one city. Some of the greatest philosophers, scientists, artists, writers the world has ever seen. It's main university has seen 40 Nobel prize winners graduate from there- more than I can say for ECU...
Here is a quote we were told while on the tour:

"Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt,
verbrennt man am Ende
auch Menschen."

Translation
"They that start by burning books
will end by burning men."
--Heinrich Heine

The tour taught me that the history of Berlin is mainly a morbid one; the Holocaust is something that hangs around every corner of this place. It is in the hearts and minds of every German, and anyone passing through, and it is a very important part of Berlin and the world, and something none of us should ever forget.

Sorry to be a downer, but I want to share that experience with all of you- now back to the fun stuff! Our last night we spent eating delicious crepes, drinking freshly squeezed orange juice and watching some crazy street performers twirling fire (and making us fear for our lives at some points). A great way to say Goodbye to this wonderfully inspiring city.

First Day 25/07/2011

Hello friends, family and those in between,

I have arrived in England a day earlier than expected (thank you time-travel difference), so my travel companion, Charlie, and I have found ourselves very confused with both time and money difference and paid over $200 for our first night in the UK. Oh well, it was just great to be horizontal after sitting in a 90 degree angle for what seemed like days- and probably was.

Not much to report yet, we are just watching nickelodeon, which is awesome. Will write more when something interesting happens... :)

Akp over and out