Euro Trip 2010

Hi all,

The last week been hectic, I've had no chance to blog so sorry for the long entry! Last time it was my first night in Rome. The next morning I woke up at 5:30am and snuck out of my hostel dorm as quietly as possible (I really hate getting up when everyones still asleep!), threw some clothes on and headed off to Scholars Irish Pub. I got there at 6:20am, and it was already full of Aussies excited to watch the footy. So yes we were all drinking at 6:30am but it was the Grand Final, it's not right without a beer! I sat with 3 Aussies, cheering on the Saints & after the disappointing finish we stayed and drowned our sorrows for awhile. It was great fun though, I was a proud Aussie & it made me a little homesick!

The next few days were spent marvelling at the Roman sights such as the Coliseum, and Trevi Fountain & sampling some local food (Italian pizza, yum!). On Sunday morning I went to Vatican City and stood in line for an hour to climb to the top of the Basilica. 320 steps later through a teeny tiny narrow staircase, we had 360 degree views of Rome. It was worth the wait & the climb!!

After saying Arriverderci to Rome, the day had finally come, a day I had been thinking about my entire life...I was going to Malta!! Malta is one of Europe's smallest countries, less than 100kms from Sicily, 300kms from Tunisia, and has 2 official languages, Maltese and English (Italian used to be one also). This is the place where my parent's, grandparents, aunties & uncles grew up. I flew with Air Malta from Rome, and I wasn't at all surprised there was a nun sitting next to me on the plane! I was greeted at the airport with a very warm welcome from my relatives, who I had never met before, but instantly treated me as one of their own which was really nice. They were all so lovely and easy going & I was extremely grateful for their hospitality over the next few days - taking me around Malta, to visit other relatives, and feeding me delicious Maltese food, my first home cooked meals in weeks!

It was really quite comforting being in a country where everyone sounds like your relatives, I felt like I should have known all these people! I'm so glad I did those Maltese lessons this year, it really helped to read the language and have a much better understanding of it. I stayed in a hostel named Grannys Inn (not sure why it's not Nannas Inn!), it was a great place to stay, very clean & friendly. I ended up meeting a fellow Melbournian named Monique who I ended up travelling to Gozo with. Malta is made up of 3 islands, Gozo is one of them and is where my dad is from. We caught a 20 minute ferry to Gozo from the island of Malta, and then took a hop on hop off bus tour around the island. It's a really quiet place but charming. There were temples there that are the oldest, free-standing monuments in the world (older than the pyramids by at least 1,000 years). We splurged on a really nice meal too, with "hobz biz zejt", crusty Maltese bread with oil, on the side. Yum!

The next day we went on a day trip to Sicily. Back to Italy! I was determined to eat pasta in Italy, something I didn't get a chance to do before. We had to be at the meeting point at 5.30am to be taken to the catamaran, which I had been looking forward to doing for years. It was quite big and had airline style seats, cafes and surprise surprise...pokie machines!! I sat down, enjoyed my chocolate crossaint and tea and waited to depart...the excitement lasted about 10 minutes. I could really feel the catamaran moving on the water, it was so rough that when you walked around the catamaran you looked liked a drunk fool stumbling madly around! It didn't taken long for the nausea to kick in. Even though I had taken 2 travel sickness tablets I ended up running to the bathroom every 20 minutes to enjoy my crossaint, and my lunch from Gozo a 2nd time around! Once we got off the catamaran (thank god) we met our tour guide & caught a bus to a lovely town 2 hours away called Taormina, a popular beachside destination on the east coast of Italy where the rich and famous flock to. I was STARVED when we got there so we went straight to a restaurant recommended by the tour guide, with a beautiful view of Mediterranean below. I thoroughly enjoyed a huge bowl of Spaghetti bolognese and bread. It was soo good, my favourite bolognese pasta meals are ALWAYS cooked by Sicilians! Full & satisfied, we walked around the town, it was a lot bigger than I expected, and really pretty. There was also a cable car looking contraption to take people straight down to the ocean. I really liked Taormina.

Next we were off to Mt Etna, the largest, most active volcano in Europe, with an ash explosion occurring only just over a month ago! We drove up to a crater on the volcano and had a look around. There was smoke in the air and you could smell the burning. There was houses around this volcano...crazy! Afterwards we took the 2 hour bus to Pozzallo where the port is, and had something to eat before boarding the catamaran...I was DREADING it but I went to a pharmacy & she gave me strong travel sickness tablets, they knocked me out as soon as I got on board and woke up when we arrived without feeling sick at all, PHEW! We got back to the hotel about 11pm, and had to wake up this morning at 6am for my flight to Barcelona where I am now!

I was so excited to finally be in a Spanish speaking country...only to discover that everything is in Catalan, the other official language in Barcelona. A Brazilian guy described it to me as "portuguese with typos". I can understand a lot of it but there are a LOT of differences to Spanish. They all speak Spanish too though so I'm forcing myself to not speak a word of English except in the hostel. My Spanish is definitely a MILLION times better than when I arrived in Buenos Aires (1 year ago today) where it took me awhile to get the courage to speak it. I've still got a very long way to go but it's nice knowing how much I've improved!

I went on a Gaudi walking tour shortly after checking in which was really interesting. Gaudi was a Spanish architect and is very famous for the work he has done here, especially La Sagrada Familia. He was hit by a tram in 1926 but because Gaudi was a little out there, he was dressed in ragged clothes and the tram driver just moved him to the side and left him, thinking he was a homeless man. Taxi drivers wouldn't take him to the hospital for the same reason. He died 3 days later. I met a girl on the walking tour and turns out we were staying in the same room at the hostel! We ended up going to an amazing tapas restaurant where we had to wait 40 minutes for a table, but it was worth it and again we splurged on food & wine. The meals in the last week have been a highlight for me! Well, tasting local food is always a highlight for me on any trip!

I've only got a few days left before coming home, I'm clinging on to every second. Especially weather wise, it's been about 25 degrees & sunny most days!

I will blog one last time from Madrid in a few days.

Hasta luego amigos!

xx

Hi all,

Last time I blogged I was in Lucerne, Switzerland. It is a beautiful, German speaking city located on Lake Lucerne.

After being told I had to wait 5 hours to check in I went & toured as much of the city as possible as I only had 1 night there. The scenery was the most spectacular so far, being surrounded with Lake Lucerne and the Swiss Alps. I took a little touristy train around the city with audio commentary which was great. All the locals knew the train driver & greeted him around every corner.

After finally checking into the hostel I was pleased to find my fellow roommate (it was only a 2 bed dorm) was a really nice German girl named Bianka who had just moved to Lucerne to study Tourism & was waiting for her student acommodation to open up. We went out for dinner together in town, and I was glad she spoke German (even if it's not Swiss German, which I've been told is a dialect of German that is really different) because the waiter just gave me a dirty look when I asked for an English menu, even though they promoted themselves for catering to all nationalities. I ended up ordering a soup as I still had a cold & didn't have a great apetite. Switzerland is SO expensive compared to the other places I have been, no wonder they don't want to be part of the EU, I spent double the amount of money there than anywhere else!

Bianka was really lovely to chat to, but the next morning I had to move on. I was excited about the next train as Switzerland's famous trains are their Scenic trains and I was about to go on one of them, the Golden Pass. It took me from Lucerne to Interlaken in 2 hours and I was staring out the window the whole time at the incredible scenery (lots of lakes & mountains & little villages). You were never going to forget you were in Switzerland with all the Swiss flags hanging out people's windows.

Interlaken, located in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland, was even more spectacular. I walked out Interlaken Ost train station and saw 5 paragliders gliding above me. While I walked to my hostel they all landed about 20 metres from me. I knew I'd fit in here! Although it did make my own paragliding efforts seem like nothing when I ended up seeing at least another 50 paragliders in the next 2 days. I really wanted to skydive or hang glide but my time was limited so I ended up going on the Jungfraubahn, a train that goes to the highest train station in Europe, at Jungfraujoch (The Jungfrau is one of the main summits in the Bernese Alps). It took a few hours to get there but the views were worth it. It was freezing outside but the sun was out so it didn't feel too bad....although not sure standing outside on a snowy mountain is a wise move when you have a cold but I didn't care! There was also an Ice tunnel which you walked through and looked at the ice sculptures...they were pretty cool but most of my time was spent making sure I didn't fall over on the floor made of ice!

The Villa Sonnenhof hostel in Interlaken was really nice, but besides me, a couple of English, Canadians & Australians it was hundreds of Korean guests staying there. The first night I hung out with the English people, drinking local beer at the hostel, the night after going on the Jungfrau, I ended up at the hostel with the Canadians & an Aussie watching movies.

The next day I left the hostel at 7am and caught 3 trains to Venice, Italy. I stayed in a hotel worked booked for me, it was a 2 minute walk from Venice Santa Lucia train station so that was handy.

I jumped straight on a water taxi but it was sooo crowded that I had to get off, and after looking at a map decided to walk around instead. It didn't take that long to get around, and it was really interesting because one second you are in a Piazza full of people, then you walk down a few side streets with no one around thinking you are lost, and then the next second the little side street opens up into a Piazza full of people. I did this for a few hours without once looking at the map, until I decided to go to Piazza San Marco or St Mark's Square. It was a huge square full of tourists, it was pretty though & this is where I had my first gelato yum! Mint choc chip & Pistachio, 2 of my favourites. I was mistaken for a local a few times too, with Americans asking me for directions.There are canals on every corner, it was really nice, and only twice for about 5 seconds each time did I smell the horrible Venice smell that I was warned about. I've also found knowing some Spanish really helps in Italy. The lady who sold me my postcard asked me a few questions in Italian & I understood her because they were so close to Spanish!

I ended up sleeping for 10 hours last night without an alarm on and woke up with 15 minutes to check out, oops! I never sleep that long at home, not sure how I will go back to 5:30am wakeups!!

This morning I caught the train from Venice - Rome & got to Rome in the afternoon. One guy at the hostel kept calling me "sweetheart" which I can handle from a senior citizen but not from someone a couple of years older than me. It reminded me of an episode of Scrubs where Elliot cracks it at Kelso for calling her sweetheart...but I ended up keeping my mouth shut when he gave me my towel, internet usage & a bottle of wine for free. Another guy there, an American who has been living in Rome for a year now, gave me a map & suggestions of where to go which was really good. He even suggested a place that might play the AFL grand final tomorrow morning, so I walked there & sure enough there was a sign outside saying AFL Grand Final Live, 6:30am. Now I'm not sure whether to find a pub crawl & stay out all night or go to bed & wake my roommates up at 5am while I sneak out of the dorm room.

I'm off to experience some Italian pizza!

Until next time...Ciao
xx

Hi all,

I haven't been able to blog for the past few days and I've only got 20 minutes (internet is expensive in Switzerland!) so I have to be quick!!

Last time I blogged I was in an internet cafe in Brussels, I decided to go to Bruges instead of staying in Brussels so got back on the train and got to Bruges in 1 hour.

Bruges is a beautiful, medieval looking town in the Flemish region of Belgium. Anyone who has seen In Bruges, this is where the movie is based.

After the big, overwhelming cities of London & Paris, I was ready for a small place to chill for a few days. Bruges was perfect for this, my hostel was swarming with Australians which made it incredibly easy to make friends. 20 minutes after arriving at the hostel I was sitting around the bar drinking Belgium beers with a group of really cool people who became friends for the next 3 days.

The staff were so nice, one let me pratice my Spanish with her, another one put live streaming of the Pies vs Cats game on her laptop for us in the hostel bar!! It started off with 2 of us sitting around the laptop with our Hoegaarden & Leffes, booing Collingwood, by the end at least 15 aussies had watched it with us (including some devastated Geelong fans, and some very confused Europeans/Americans). I was so grateful to Suzie for doing this for us!

Later that day we went on a walking tour of Bruges with a crazy ex-New Yorker who twice would get to hide behind bridges & surprise people on the boats by jumping out & screaming at them in unison...weird I know but strangely enough we all did it! Bruges is highly recommended to everyone, it's such a pleasant place to walk around. Best part though was the £1 Belgian beer, waffles & the people. One guy in my hostel had a rooster crowing as his alarm clock and it went off really loud and woke us all up...twice! Later that day he apologised if his snoring kept me up!!!!

After Bruges I went to Amsterdam. I had booked my hostel the day before and booked the only hostel available....I can see why it was still available!! It was a 20 minute bus or tram ride out of town, and was actually a hotel with bunk beds in some of the rooms. So besides the people in your room, it was almost impossible to meet people. I went into town & walked around, its a really crayz, loud & everything is out in the open, people sitting in cafes on every block smoking weed, prostitues in glass windows trying to get the mens attention), many boats cruising through the canals, and thousands of restaurants (although I swear about 50% of them were Argentinian restaurants, no wonder most of my friends from when I was in Argentina are Dutch!).

I decided to head back to the hostel to try & meet some people so I could go out in town with them. The tram ride was so annoying and the tickets were about 4 dollars for 1 hour so it was expensive getting there and back. One roommate had already left to go out, and the other 2 didn't feel like going out so I stayed in. I wasn't pleased at all, this hostel was just awful and I wishing I was back in Bruges with my friends. But I had a train booked in for the next night so I had to be in Amsterdam for that.

The following day (Sunday) was a million times better. I met the Aussie in my room who had gone out the night before, he was travelling solo so if I had gotten to the hostel a little bit earlier I could've gone out with him...ah well! I woke up with a chest infection & cold so probably a good thing I rested! (Of course I am sick...Im ALWAYS sick overseas) I ended up with a fever yesterday but I wasnt going to let that stop me so the Aussie (Nicky) & I got some breaky & headed for town. I would love to tell you all where we went but my parents read this so better not!!!! I did though try some crispy, golden fries with home made mayonnaise which the Dutch are known for...YUM!!!

At 2pm I met up with my friend Linda who I met in Mendoza, Argentina last year. We hung out for about a week in Mendoza, along with a group of people we met there, it was a highlight of my trip to Argentina. Linda & I went for a drink (at an Aussie pub, and they served VB...I was sooo happy it wasn't Fosters) and caught up on the last year. She is so easy to have conversations with, it was lovely! She also took me to get pancakes, yum!

After spending about 4 hours with the beautiful Linda, I had to rush ALL THE WAY BACK to the dodgy hostel, pick up my backpack & go to the train station to catch the overnight train to Switzerland. Since Im staying in hostels most of the time I decided to plurge on a single sleeper. It was a little room with a single bed and a sink but it was pretty darn cool & I was glad to have privacy. The train was 12 hours but I slept for 10 hours of it!! I got a breakfast in the morning and stared out the big window at the mountains and lakes. The train got me to Zurich and I jumped straight on another train to Lucerne, which is where I am now. I cant check in for another 5 hours! But Lake Lucerne is right in front of the hostel so I'm going to go for a walk.

Until next time...

Channy
xx

Hi there,

So in my last blog I was in London, 3 days later I am in Brussels, Belgium, and visited Paris in between! I'm writing this on a French keyboard so its taking a lot longer than usual to blog!

On Monday night, my last night in London, Sid invited her Danish friend over to have dinner with us. Sids cooking is delicious and we enjoyed a bottle of red wine and yummy pasta, while talking about Denmarks love for Princess Mary. I was sad to leave Sids on Tuesday morning, she looked after us so well, she had stocked up the kitchen with food for us even though she didn't like some of it, she let us all stay in her bedroom even though her housemate also had guests staying over, and she showed us London, it was the best way to start off my trip. THANKS SID!!

On Tuesday morning, we said our goodbyes and I headed for London St Pancras Station for my first train, the Eurostar; It takes 2 hrs 15 mins to get from London to Paris on this train. It's a train I sell a lot at work so was keen to experience it myself. I sat down, the train left and 10 mins later I was offered breakfast. I was so happy to see a pain au chocolat (chocolate crossaint, the first of many) in there. It hit me then I was on my way to Paris. We went through the Channel tunnel, got out 20 mins later and we were in France!

Waiting for me at Paris Gare du Nord station was my friend Ziad. Ziad and I met in March last year in Mebourne, for 5 minutes only (an interesting story but would rather not share on here) and have been facebook friends since. Ziad is born and bred in Paris (now lives in Belgium), and travelled around the world a lot (,Click here for Ziads amazing round the world video ) so when he offered to come over to Paris and show me around I jumped at the opportunity, as I knew I would be in for a good time!

The weather was too good to me, it was 23 and sunny the day I arrived. Ziad took me to many places in those 2 days so I will tell you the highlights:

- The food and wine (usually my favourite part of any trip). I ate 5 crossaints in 2 days!!! Lucky I walked it all off!! Both dinners were incredible, I didnt end up eating snails though. I did however have chocolate fondue by the river in the sun and had a Sex and the City moment (The same thing happens to Carrie in Paris) where a tourist on a cruise on the river was taping us from afar and waving. I think he mistook me for a local...I secretly loved that.

- Rue Mouffetard, a street I could spent hours on browsing through the fresh delis, searching through all the cheeses, wines, seafood and chocolate. YUM!

- Meeting Ziads friends from Paris. They were all so kind to me, asking about my travels and speaking a lot of English for me, one friend even went off and got my bag repaired when the strap broke off, and wouldnt accept any money from me! Any sort of thought I had before I went that French people are rude is definitely gone!
This is the first country Ive been to where I havent studied the language, I felt like an ignorant tourist! But Ziad and his friends encouraged me to order a few things in French, and I picked up a few words along the way.

- Riding on the back of a scooter around Paris. One of the friends had one, it was such a rush!!! Zipping through the streets of Paris, weaving betweens cars, being on the right hand side of the road, it felt great!

- The Eiffel Tower. Of course, how could it not be a highlight. Standing there makes it hit you hard that you are actually in Paris. Ziad organised so that we went at night when it was less crowded and lit up. It was much bigger than I thought.

- The Louvre. The museum where the Mona Lisa (or La Joconde) is on display. The painting itself is tiny but has a great history so was cool to be in its presence. The Louvre itself is beautiful, it looks like a glass pyramid and has fountains outside to relax on, and so pretty at night...

We did much more than this but these were my highlights of Paris.

After dinner I said goodbye to Ziad and his friends as I couldnt keep my eyes open, I dont think Ive ever been that tired in my life!! Poor Ziad almost had to rescue me from drowning in my food, I was sure I was going to fall asleep face first in it. Again I was so grateful for the generous hospitality on this trip. I much preferred seeing the sights from a locals perspective, rather than being herded around like cattle in a tour group. And it was completely hassle free, so easy. THANKS ZIAD!!

So this morning I caught the Thalys train to Brussels, a very nice modern train. It only took 1 hr 20 mins from Paris - Brussels. I had another crossaint on board the train to my delight! Although clumsy me spilled a whole spoon full of yoghurt on my top right in front of one of the staff. He very kindly got me some wipes to clean it off...how embarrassing!! The train station in Brussels smelt like chocolate, I think I will fit right in here!

I have no idea where I am going or sleeping tonight so I better go book something! Maybe Bruges? So I can relax, drink Leffe and Hoegaarden beer, and stuff myself with Belgian chocolate. On Friday morning at 11:30am I need to be somewhere thats going to play the footy, probably Amsterdam.

Until then, au revoir.

xx

'Ello 'ello,

So my time is almost over in ol' London town.

In the last entry, Sid & I were waiting for the Dutchies (Esme & Mark) to arrive in London from Holland. Their flight was delayed, so after being offered 3 cups of tea (London is heaven for hardcore tea drinkers like me) & watching a bad British soapie, the doorbell rang & and the Buenos Aires gang were reunited. It felt so surreal for us all to be in the same room again, I haven't seen these guys since I left BA in November last year. I know I probably drive people crazy at home by starting off many sentences with "In Argentina..." or "One time in Buenos Aires..." so it was nice to reminisce with these guys & also speak a little Spanish to eachother. I have a habit of saying "no se" a lot at home which means "I don't know" in Spanish, and am usually stared at blankly so I've enjoyed being understood the last few days!

By the time Esme & Mark settle in I'm really anxious to get out there & do some sightseeing. We walked down a part of the Thames river near Sids house to our first English pub! Although it felt like I was right back in Melbourne by the Yarra as there were so many Aussies & Kiwis there, same at the next few pubs too...I definitely don't feel like a foreigner here. The weather was beautiful, 20 degrees and sunny, not what I would have expected what you hear about UK weather!

Sid had to leave us visitors to go to a concert, so after a nice long nap to cure our jetlag (which worked!) the Dutchies & I went off exploring. Our first stop was Piccadilly Circus, a mini version of Times Square. Very touristy & crowded so we just took a few snaps & headed off. We got back on the tube & ended up in a northern part of town eating a Bratwurst & fries (my first meal in England was actually German) & drinking at a local pub.

On Sunday we met up with another friend from Argentina, Lucy, and went to Camden Markets. I was kind of expecting a much bigger version of Salamanca markets in Hobart...It was nothing like what I expected! It was HUGE & very crowded but I really liked it. There were hundreds of stalls selling every style of food you could imagine, spicy Indian curries, juicy Argentinian steaks, Turkish kebabs,...just to name a few. In fact, London is the most multi cultural place I have ever been to, every person you walk past is a different nationality. The shopping here is amazing, clothes are so cheap & nice.

I got sunburnt that day too, yep sunburt in London! It was 21 & the sun was really hot, it felt more like 26 or 27 degrees.

After seeing some sights such as the Big Ben & the London Eye we ended up at the Thames river festival & enjoyed some drinks by the river. There we met up with Sarah who also went to Expanish with us in Buenos Aires which was really cool.

Today Sid had to work so Esme, Mark & I enjoyed a big English breakfast for £4.50 each (about $7.50 AUD), went shopping at the famous Harrods department store, stared at the guards at Buckingham Palace hoping they would lose their concentration & move, sat in Hyde park & watched the Squirrels get fussed over & fed, and ended up at Trafalgar Square (which makes me instantly think of the beloved red property in Monopoly) where we sat on a fountain & took it all in as it rained a bit. It finally felt like I was in London, weatherwise, with the gloominess & the rain...I was glad to experience that.

Some things I've learnt the past 3 days:

- London pubs close really early, and only warn you they're about to close just AFTER buying a pint of beer.
- Elevenses means brunch/coffee break.
- Fosters beer is sold everywhere & a lot of pubs have it on tap...who drinks Fosters??
- The London Underground (the Tube) platforms/trains are really hot & humid, and some go so far down underground you can only use a lift to get down there.
- To see London in a few days is overwhelming! I would love to spend some time living here one day & take it in slowly.

The Dutchies have left to go back to Amsterdam, sad to see them go! Tomorrow I am off to Paris on the Eurostar train, a very exciting day for me as I sell this train every day at work.

Until next time, cheerio!

Channy
xoxo