Wow, who would have thought I was capable of it - miserable weather and zero autonomy have left me under house arrest since my return from Spain, and as a result I have pretty much been attached to my computer screen for 3 days straight. Huge progress in the study, the entire modelling process and associated hypotheses for thesis are understood, now I am just missing a few crucial references to back up some of our data choices... still planty more to do, but I feel I will be going home with most of the Italian side of things complete. Meanwhile I am SOOO glad it's the weekend, both my current adoptive parents (how many will I have accumulated in this country before my time is up??) are around and I can hopefully get out of the house! Assuming it stops raining and the temperature gets about 12 degrees.....
Pretty jealous right now of all you uni students who are, at the very moment, probably very drunk celebrating the end of exams, for some of you the last uni exams ever, with nice Sydney Spring weather!! Save yourselves, as I will be there in just a few weeks drinking with you!! Can't wait!
Love to all, see you quite soon!
Kels xox
Friday 16 November 2007
Monday 12 November 2007
La fiesta es finida.....
It's the end of my last day in Spain, and the thought of getting on a plane tomorrow for Rome inevitably brings thoughts of getting on a plane back to Australia in 25 days... oh my god it seems so surreal. I'm so excited about going back to summer, getting on the surfboard and seeing everyone again, especially a final family christmas at Tathra, but nothing can equal the months I've spent over here, I feel like I've had a chance to try EVERYTHING!! From living a normal life catching up with mates and going out in Civitanova, to backpacking around Europe, to cycling the countryside and then being a student in Rome. Holy cow I've been so lucky!
I'm absolutely exhausted after this week in Spain - if ever I found it ahrd to get used to how late things happen in Italy, it was nothing compared to Spain. Italians tend to eat at around 9 and go out around ten, the Spanish start thinking about food at ten and go out at midnight!! Sleeping until 3pm is considered kind of normal... ?!? I found this especially hard at San Sebastion since I wanted to make the most of the daylight to go surfing - not really compatible with staying out until 6am, ahem. As a result I may not have spent quite as much time in the water as I would have liked, but I did get one awesome Friday night out with Ilaria and all the surf instructors, which was unforgettable... well maybe not so unforgettable, the typical drink from San Sebastion, Patxaran, seems to have memory altering qualities because there are serious gaps in my recollection and I was NOT that drunk! Hmmm, wild night. But it was the last one for quite I while, and damn it I had fun, so I don't care!
In the end Ilaria had a few problems with one of her mates so we stayed an extra day to let her sort it all out, and it just so happened that we were blessed with yet another rare sunny day at San Sebastian, and spent all morning in the water. It's a perfect beginners beach there, the waves are gentle, clean, constant, and usually not too big. It would be so great to spend a few weeks there and really improve! So the result of all this was that I had only today in barcelona, having caught a night bus and slept badly for the whole 7 hour trip. Ilaria and I mustered every effort to see as much as we could, and I know know the architecture of Gaudi` intimately - what a beautiful city it is, if only for his influence! Absolutely amazing, I've never seen anything like it in my life! And to think that the Sagrada Familia has been under construction for 125 years and may be yet for many more to come! I had Tapas for dinner, too, more to say I did than anything else, and because I was so damn sick of eating rolls and hamburgers, as good as they may be here!
So now I'm having an early night (for Spain, anyway, haha) and leaving my backpacking days behind me as I trudge back to Rome to stick my nose in books and go blind staring at my computer screen, haha. And to think that everyone at Uni has either finished exams (some for good!!!) or are about to finish them, i'll be studying right through summer (not that it won't have been worth it).
Adios España, me gustas muchas!!
I'm absolutely exhausted after this week in Spain - if ever I found it ahrd to get used to how late things happen in Italy, it was nothing compared to Spain. Italians tend to eat at around 9 and go out around ten, the Spanish start thinking about food at ten and go out at midnight!! Sleeping until 3pm is considered kind of normal... ?!? I found this especially hard at San Sebastion since I wanted to make the most of the daylight to go surfing - not really compatible with staying out until 6am, ahem. As a result I may not have spent quite as much time in the water as I would have liked, but I did get one awesome Friday night out with Ilaria and all the surf instructors, which was unforgettable... well maybe not so unforgettable, the typical drink from San Sebastion, Patxaran, seems to have memory altering qualities because there are serious gaps in my recollection and I was NOT that drunk! Hmmm, wild night. But it was the last one for quite I while, and damn it I had fun, so I don't care!
In the end Ilaria had a few problems with one of her mates so we stayed an extra day to let her sort it all out, and it just so happened that we were blessed with yet another rare sunny day at San Sebastian, and spent all morning in the water. It's a perfect beginners beach there, the waves are gentle, clean, constant, and usually not too big. It would be so great to spend a few weeks there and really improve! So the result of all this was that I had only today in barcelona, having caught a night bus and slept badly for the whole 7 hour trip. Ilaria and I mustered every effort to see as much as we could, and I know know the architecture of Gaudi` intimately - what a beautiful city it is, if only for his influence! Absolutely amazing, I've never seen anything like it in my life! And to think that the Sagrada Familia has been under construction for 125 years and may be yet for many more to come! I had Tapas for dinner, too, more to say I did than anything else, and because I was so damn sick of eating rolls and hamburgers, as good as they may be here!
So now I'm having an early night (for Spain, anyway, haha) and leaving my backpacking days behind me as I trudge back to Rome to stick my nose in books and go blind staring at my computer screen, haha. And to think that everyone at Uni has either finished exams (some for good!!!) or are about to finish them, i'll be studying right through summer (not that it won't have been worth it).
Adios España, me gustas muchas!!
Thursday 8 November 2007
Hola chicos!! Yo estoy en España!
This is my final fling before I am once again homeward bound (even thinking about it makes me nervous, sorry but I DO NOT want to leave...). One fated day, my best mate Ilaria thought to call me to see if I wanted to join her for a few days in Spain... as a result, I am now at San Sebastion, hanging out with all her bautiful surfer mates and mooching off them to hire wetsuits and borrow boards etc, speinding the daylight freezing my butt off in the water and loving it, and the nights drinking Patxaran and trying to switch between Italian, English and Spanish to have a conversation! This is potentially the coolest thing I have done in this entire trip. Don´t get me wrong, everything has been absolutely fantastic in it's own right, some places have been more beautiful than others, and for different reasons, some more historically interesting, some more different, but this is just plain fun!! I couldn't think of anything better right now. What's more it's also the cheapest thing I've done - 20 euro flight each way, 18 euro for a private room in a charming little hostel in the centre of the old part of town, even the food here is cheap because they specialise in these rather substantial and very satisfying hot filled rolls called camperos. Fair enough it's ten degrees outside and god knows what the water temp is, but at least that means there's hardly anyone in the water. What an awesome way to finish travelling! We've got 3-4 days here, then a day or two in Barcelona before heading back to Italy once and for all.
I have postponed my flight home but not by much, I rang to check on the dates in case I needed more time for the research and it turned out there was only one other day in December available, so I took it just in case. I wish I could transfer all the things and people I miss in Australia and chuck them in with all the things and people I love in Italy, it just kills me to think I will be leaving here in less than a month and it could be years before I get to do all this again. I'm torn to pieces because I want so much to come home and see everyone and live out the Aussie summer, but I choke up when I think about how many beautiful people I will be leaving behind :( I've been so damned lucky in everything I've done. Who'd have thought 5 years ago that ilaria and I would wind up on the same path, surfing together in San Sebastion!?! And my current hosts near Rome are the loving, caring, supportive host family I never really had at Civitanova, who call me when I go anywhere to check that I arrived safely or bend over backwards to help whenever they possibly can, making me feel incredibly guilty! I'm trying to think of a single time when the Romagnolis called me for anything at all, even if they needed to talk to me... I seriously don't think they ever have. I've always been the one to call them and say hi, to see how things are going, to visit them etc. Anyway this isn't about complaining!! Sigh, I'm just so overwhelmed by how wonderful everything here has been. I knew it would be fun and interesting and that I would learn about the world, yada yada yada, but who knew it would be so perfect. In 4 months I think I've had 2 days when I felt sad, and had good reason to. The rest of the time I've been either exhausted, or just plain loving life.
Hope everyone is well back home, I am missing you ALL heaps and heaps, whether or not it seems like it, haha. Seriously, there are so many moments when I think about certain people and wish I could share with them, so I am constantly talking about friends and family back home to everyone over here. I'm sure they're all sick of it, but you will all get a taste of the reverse when I get home, I'm sure!
Kel xox
I have postponed my flight home but not by much, I rang to check on the dates in case I needed more time for the research and it turned out there was only one other day in December available, so I took it just in case. I wish I could transfer all the things and people I miss in Australia and chuck them in with all the things and people I love in Italy, it just kills me to think I will be leaving here in less than a month and it could be years before I get to do all this again. I'm torn to pieces because I want so much to come home and see everyone and live out the Aussie summer, but I choke up when I think about how many beautiful people I will be leaving behind :( I've been so damned lucky in everything I've done. Who'd have thought 5 years ago that ilaria and I would wind up on the same path, surfing together in San Sebastion!?! And my current hosts near Rome are the loving, caring, supportive host family I never really had at Civitanova, who call me when I go anywhere to check that I arrived safely or bend over backwards to help whenever they possibly can, making me feel incredibly guilty! I'm trying to think of a single time when the Romagnolis called me for anything at all, even if they needed to talk to me... I seriously don't think they ever have. I've always been the one to call them and say hi, to see how things are going, to visit them etc. Anyway this isn't about complaining!! Sigh, I'm just so overwhelmed by how wonderful everything here has been. I knew it would be fun and interesting and that I would learn about the world, yada yada yada, but who knew it would be so perfect. In 4 months I think I've had 2 days when I felt sad, and had good reason to. The rest of the time I've been either exhausted, or just plain loving life.
Hope everyone is well back home, I am missing you ALL heaps and heaps, whether or not it seems like it, haha. Seriously, there are so many moments when I think about certain people and wish I could share with them, so I am constantly talking about friends and family back home to everyone over here. I'm sure they're all sick of it, but you will all get a taste of the reverse when I get home, I'm sure!
Kel xox
Saturday 27 October 2007
Wonewee, oh so wonewee!!!!
Just waved goodbye to mum as she got on the shuttlebus to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, lugging behind her all my moroccan goodies... (thanks mum) and suddenly I feel very alone again! We've been together virtually every second of every day for a whole month, probably the most of our lives!! Well, since I was a baby, anyway. And while we certainly got on each other's nerves, we had many an adventure together and it suddenly feels so empty without mum here!But for better or worse I'm heading back to Rome on a late night flight tonight, and will be reunited with my studies in Rome tomorrow. I've never been more motivated! Haha.
The last three days in Paris have blown my mind. Somehow I expected it to be just another cheesy European capital city, with the same beutiful big buildings and architecture and crappy weather... well I was right about the weather, but of all the big cities I've been to so far, Paris tops the list! The place is neverending, and aside from the hundreds of tourist attractions, every corner you turn reveals a new cafe, patisserie or funky shop. It sprawls out for miles in every direction, with each arrondissement having its own particular flavour, and everything just blending in nicely in between. People of all races speaking all languages mill the streets, and with my elementary french to break the ice, there was not a SINGLE sign of the stereotypical snooty-french-waiter-type. They were all absolutely charming! What's more, it has none of the artificiality, chaos or filth of Rome or many other cities, with the tourist merchandise shops being few and far between, and the tourists themselves blending in easily with the multicultural population. To top it all off, every time we jumped on the metro we were greeted by live music, ranging from clarinet solos to entire mini-orchestras! So very atmospheric.
We did it all, considering how little time we had. Freezing our buns off, we did a night tour of the city on bikes to get our bearings. We also did a full day tour of Versaille. We walked from Notre Dame right along the "historic axis of symmetry" through the Louvre, the Tuileries gardens and down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph. We spent an evening drinking champagne and watching a show at the Moulin Rouge, climbed the huge hill to the Sacre Coeur, wandered through the Musee D'Orsay where we could literally have touched many famous works of Van Gough, Monet and many others, and said goodbye to the city shrouded in grey from atop the Grande Arche, in the funky and enormous business district, La Defense. We also did our best to stuff ourselves full of French bread and pastries, and struggled through a delicious meal of Fioe Gras and Duck Magret, having only just rediscovered our appetites after Morocco. Which leads me to another sotry.
For the first few days in Morocco we could not believe the amazing flavours you could get with just a few dollars, and were filling up on Tagines and sweets left over from ramidan. But just as we were getting over our culture shock from the medinas and about to head away from the hectic Moroccan cities and onto the backroads..... the dreaded bug hit. Six of our crew of eleven went down overnight, quite violently, several of them vomiting uncontrollably. Mum and I were amongst them. We assumed food poisoning was the culprit, as the other 5 sat smugly, feeling quite good about themselves. We had a full day on the bus that day, and had to stop every ten minutes or so, so that someone could have a chunder on the side fo the road, or to find toilets. I sat shivering, huddled up to mum, wrapped in about 50 thick layers of clothes. The mood was pretty low. I don't remember anything about midelt beause I slept for 18 hours that night.
Eventually everyone else caught the bug as well, so that by the end all of us got hit, except our blessed young Japanese doctor, who was taking a short break from her 2 years of solo volunteer work in Africa and probably ended up working harder on her holiday than she would have in Africa. Her boyfriend Tristan was pretty flat out translating, too, as she didn't speak English and only two of us could speak French with her.
As it turned out we all rallied and were well enough to at least get on our camels and ride into the Western Saharan sunset, although I don't think anyone's stomach enjoyed the sensation too much! We couldn't do justice to the enormous berber-cooked tagine either, as tasty as it was! Nonetheless, the desert remained a hilight for all of us, as the sound of bongo drums and berber songs carried on way into the night, and the stars were unlike any I've ever seen before. I got to see my first shooting star, too! Sa'id, our Moroccan guide, did his best to keep us all laughing and well-informed about Morocco right to the last hour of the trip, despite our low morale. I also spent rediculous amounts of money, unable to resist all the cheap prices (which of course when all added together are no longer cheap!!!), and splashed out on hand-woven bedspreads, a leather jacket, beautifully decorated tagines and tonnes of other tidbits. I don't feel too guilty though, since mum bought a large silk carpet....!
So that is just about the end of my adventures, until my last hurrah, which will be 5 days in Barcelona and San Sebastian with Ilaria. I may get some surfing in after all! Meanwhile I will be studying hard and hopefully making daily breakthroughs in the climate change problem, hahaha!
Love to all!
Kel xox
The last three days in Paris have blown my mind. Somehow I expected it to be just another cheesy European capital city, with the same beutiful big buildings and architecture and crappy weather... well I was right about the weather, but of all the big cities I've been to so far, Paris tops the list! The place is neverending, and aside from the hundreds of tourist attractions, every corner you turn reveals a new cafe, patisserie or funky shop. It sprawls out for miles in every direction, with each arrondissement having its own particular flavour, and everything just blending in nicely in between. People of all races speaking all languages mill the streets, and with my elementary french to break the ice, there was not a SINGLE sign of the stereotypical snooty-french-waiter-type. They were all absolutely charming! What's more, it has none of the artificiality, chaos or filth of Rome or many other cities, with the tourist merchandise shops being few and far between, and the tourists themselves blending in easily with the multicultural population. To top it all off, every time we jumped on the metro we were greeted by live music, ranging from clarinet solos to entire mini-orchestras! So very atmospheric.
We did it all, considering how little time we had. Freezing our buns off, we did a night tour of the city on bikes to get our bearings. We also did a full day tour of Versaille. We walked from Notre Dame right along the "historic axis of symmetry" through the Louvre, the Tuileries gardens and down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomph. We spent an evening drinking champagne and watching a show at the Moulin Rouge, climbed the huge hill to the Sacre Coeur, wandered through the Musee D'Orsay where we could literally have touched many famous works of Van Gough, Monet and many others, and said goodbye to the city shrouded in grey from atop the Grande Arche, in the funky and enormous business district, La Defense. We also did our best to stuff ourselves full of French bread and pastries, and struggled through a delicious meal of Fioe Gras and Duck Magret, having only just rediscovered our appetites after Morocco. Which leads me to another sotry.
For the first few days in Morocco we could not believe the amazing flavours you could get with just a few dollars, and were filling up on Tagines and sweets left over from ramidan. But just as we were getting over our culture shock from the medinas and about to head away from the hectic Moroccan cities and onto the backroads..... the dreaded bug hit. Six of our crew of eleven went down overnight, quite violently, several of them vomiting uncontrollably. Mum and I were amongst them. We assumed food poisoning was the culprit, as the other 5 sat smugly, feeling quite good about themselves. We had a full day on the bus that day, and had to stop every ten minutes or so, so that someone could have a chunder on the side fo the road, or to find toilets. I sat shivering, huddled up to mum, wrapped in about 50 thick layers of clothes. The mood was pretty low. I don't remember anything about midelt beause I slept for 18 hours that night.
Eventually everyone else caught the bug as well, so that by the end all of us got hit, except our blessed young Japanese doctor, who was taking a short break from her 2 years of solo volunteer work in Africa and probably ended up working harder on her holiday than she would have in Africa. Her boyfriend Tristan was pretty flat out translating, too, as she didn't speak English and only two of us could speak French with her.
As it turned out we all rallied and were well enough to at least get on our camels and ride into the Western Saharan sunset, although I don't think anyone's stomach enjoyed the sensation too much! We couldn't do justice to the enormous berber-cooked tagine either, as tasty as it was! Nonetheless, the desert remained a hilight for all of us, as the sound of bongo drums and berber songs carried on way into the night, and the stars were unlike any I've ever seen before. I got to see my first shooting star, too! Sa'id, our Moroccan guide, did his best to keep us all laughing and well-informed about Morocco right to the last hour of the trip, despite our low morale. I also spent rediculous amounts of money, unable to resist all the cheap prices (which of course when all added together are no longer cheap!!!), and splashed out on hand-woven bedspreads, a leather jacket, beautifully decorated tagines and tonnes of other tidbits. I don't feel too guilty though, since mum bought a large silk carpet....!
So that is just about the end of my adventures, until my last hurrah, which will be 5 days in Barcelona and San Sebastian with Ilaria. I may get some surfing in after all! Meanwhile I will be studying hard and hopefully making daily breakthroughs in the climate change problem, hahaha!
Love to all!
Kel xox
Monday 15 October 2007
Culture shock....
Mum and I have now been in Morocco since yesterday morning and it's only now starting to warm on us. It could have something to do with the fact that it took us 2 days of getting up at 4am to get here, and that we came from 2 blissful days of getting close to nature at the Cinque Terre... so when we flew in yesterday morning we were exhausted, stressed and probably fairly sick of each other, only to be hit hard with the heat, the awful smells and the poverty of the area. There is clearly no garbage collection system here and the plastic bags and bottles fly around the place, accumulating in alleyways and dried up agricultural fields, while fruit from the street stalls rots in the gutter an flies buzz around everywhere. The men sit in cafes and watch us strange western women walk down the street; women are nowhere to be seen. But it would seem our hotel in Casablanca wasn't in the nicest area...
Today we got the train to Meknès and have seen the medina and mosque. It is cleaner, more colourful and more cosmopolitan. So I spent money on stuff at the first opportunortunity! Very uplifting :-) In the meantime I am LOVING the food (tagines every day so far, mmmmmm) and everything is SO cheap! We have a small tour group of all ages and a few diff nationalities where I think everyone will get on great for the next 10 days. I have also fallen in love with the Moroccan children - while their Arabic parents can be quite judgemental and give us funny looks, the kids are inquisitive and give us cheeky grins, flashing their beautiful wide brown eyes: I wanna take one home!!!!
Tomorrow we leave for Fez where we will have 2 nights, can't wait!!!
Cinque Terre - not as spectacular as I had expected, as everyone had talked it up so much as THE place to be, and I certainly don't agree with that! However it is a really unique place; you would never find 5 coastal villages, all so different and yet so close, withing a national park. Really glad I saw it and did the walk, it was a beautiful 2 days!!! Especially since we got to catch up with Sonia; our Italian exchange student from '03 (who, incidentally, has not changed a bit!).
Today we got the train to Meknès and have seen the medina and mosque. It is cleaner, more colourful and more cosmopolitan. So I spent money on stuff at the first opportunortunity! Very uplifting :-) In the meantime I am LOVING the food (tagines every day so far, mmmmmm) and everything is SO cheap! We have a small tour group of all ages and a few diff nationalities where I think everyone will get on great for the next 10 days. I have also fallen in love with the Moroccan children - while their Arabic parents can be quite judgemental and give us funny looks, the kids are inquisitive and give us cheeky grins, flashing their beautiful wide brown eyes: I wanna take one home!!!!
Tomorrow we leave for Fez where we will have 2 nights, can't wait!!!
Cinque Terre - not as spectacular as I had expected, as everyone had talked it up so much as THE place to be, and I certainly don't agree with that! However it is a really unique place; you would never find 5 coastal villages, all so different and yet so close, withing a national park. Really glad I saw it and did the walk, it was a beautiful 2 days!!! Especially since we got to catch up with Sonia; our Italian exchange student from '03 (who, incidentally, has not changed a bit!).
Thursday 11 October 2007
Rome and Florence in a day
I just about managed to murder both the parentals by dragging them around Rome all day in the blistering heat, but we saw everything we needed to see, well almost. Guided tour of the colosseum and the roman forum, Trevi fountain, Castel Sant'angelo, Tiber River and St Peters. We had to skip the Pantheon as their poor old legs were just over it! But to be quite frank, the whole day jusit reinforced my perspective on Rome - it is a magnificent city rich with thousands of years of history, a testiment to the amazing engineering powers of the Romans, and it is so superficial and commercial and crowded with tourists and dirty that I can never wait to get the hell away from the place!!! I'm so glad I'm living outside the centre of Rome now!
Florence, on the other hand, has been a beautiful experience. We shipped dad off on Tuesday morning back to Australia, well and truly ready to leave I think! Now it's just the Adlam women let loose in Europe. This is my second visit to the city of art, but since I was 15 the last time I was here I have certainly appreciated it a lot more. We were fortunate with trains and managed to get here from Rome at about lunchtime (1.5 hour eurostar trip) after accompanying dad to the airport, so we knocked off all the major sites on the first day - Duomo, Baptistry, Piazza della signoria, Arno River and Piazzale San Michelangelo (from which we watched the most AMAZING firey sunset over the city, a very pleasant surprise!), dined under the ancient city walls and cruised back via a very talented busking flautist outside the Uffizi gallery. And there hardly seemes to be any people or any annoying vendors selling their stupid noisy little toys - couldn't have had a better start to the stay.
Yesterday (Wed) was full of random encounters! I left mum to explore the Uffizi gallery in her own time while I perused the markets alone - dangerous for two reasons. First, I spent all my money on leather goods. Second, I stupidly wore my beautiful Australia T-shirt which always seems to make me a lot of friends wherever I go (it's awesome coming from a country that everyone loves!!!) and made a few less than desirable friends. Most of them were just interested in making a sale and were very sneaky, and just would NOT give up! One guy Luca was interested in other things... I agreed to have a glass of wine with him, in their family shop as he seemed like an interesting, well travelled sort of guy, and pretty cute to boot, except he just wasn't interested in talking so it all ended up pretty awkward... I avoided that street for the rest of the afternoon! But then I met a really sweet Mexican guy who didn't even try to sell me anything! So I decided he was trustworthy and had a decent chat to him - turned out he was just on a working holiday so didn't really care about selling leather, very nice change! His name was Elio and we had a good chat about languages, as he spoke Spanish and I'll be going there very soon! What a sweetheart he was! Lastly and most unexpectedly, as I sat waiting for mum to come out of the Uffizi, one of the millions of Moroccans who get around all the major cities selling illegal goods sat down next to me for a rest and, once again, didn't try to sell me anything. So I had a chat to him about Morocco and he was really nice too! He showed me a picture of his brand new baby nephew, just born in Italy, obviously very proud of his brother for establishing a family in Italy! He explained that alhtough the police fine them for selling their goods, nothing happens if they don't pay the fine. So there's not much they can do to stiop it!!!
Today we are off to Riomaggiore, the first of the Cinque Terre, and spending the afternoon there with Sonia, the crazy Italian girl who stayed with us for 5 months! Only she sounds so settled - she has a job, a licence, and a boyfriend of 3 years! Can't wait to see her! Oh, and also can't wait to walk the 9km from start to finish of the paths along the Cinque Terre. I hope I can get some photos up!!
Ciao for now,
Kels (and mum)
Florence, on the other hand, has been a beautiful experience. We shipped dad off on Tuesday morning back to Australia, well and truly ready to leave I think! Now it's just the Adlam women let loose in Europe. This is my second visit to the city of art, but since I was 15 the last time I was here I have certainly appreciated it a lot more. We were fortunate with trains and managed to get here from Rome at about lunchtime (1.5 hour eurostar trip) after accompanying dad to the airport, so we knocked off all the major sites on the first day - Duomo, Baptistry, Piazza della signoria, Arno River and Piazzale San Michelangelo (from which we watched the most AMAZING firey sunset over the city, a very pleasant surprise!), dined under the ancient city walls and cruised back via a very talented busking flautist outside the Uffizi gallery. And there hardly seemes to be any people or any annoying vendors selling their stupid noisy little toys - couldn't have had a better start to the stay.
Yesterday (Wed) was full of random encounters! I left mum to explore the Uffizi gallery in her own time while I perused the markets alone - dangerous for two reasons. First, I spent all my money on leather goods. Second, I stupidly wore my beautiful Australia T-shirt which always seems to make me a lot of friends wherever I go (it's awesome coming from a country that everyone loves!!!) and made a few less than desirable friends. Most of them were just interested in making a sale and were very sneaky, and just would NOT give up! One guy Luca was interested in other things... I agreed to have a glass of wine with him, in their family shop as he seemed like an interesting, well travelled sort of guy, and pretty cute to boot, except he just wasn't interested in talking so it all ended up pretty awkward... I avoided that street for the rest of the afternoon! But then I met a really sweet Mexican guy who didn't even try to sell me anything! So I decided he was trustworthy and had a decent chat to him - turned out he was just on a working holiday so didn't really care about selling leather, very nice change! His name was Elio and we had a good chat about languages, as he spoke Spanish and I'll be going there very soon! What a sweetheart he was! Lastly and most unexpectedly, as I sat waiting for mum to come out of the Uffizi, one of the millions of Moroccans who get around all the major cities selling illegal goods sat down next to me for a rest and, once again, didn't try to sell me anything. So I had a chat to him about Morocco and he was really nice too! He showed me a picture of his brand new baby nephew, just born in Italy, obviously very proud of his brother for establishing a family in Italy! He explained that alhtough the police fine them for selling their goods, nothing happens if they don't pay the fine. So there's not much they can do to stiop it!!!
Today we are off to Riomaggiore, the first of the Cinque Terre, and spending the afternoon there with Sonia, the crazy Italian girl who stayed with us for 5 months! Only she sounds so settled - she has a job, a licence, and a boyfriend of 3 years! Can't wait to see her! Oh, and also can't wait to walk the 9km from start to finish of the paths along the Cinque Terre. I hope I can get some photos up!!
Ciao for now,
Kels (and mum)
Friday 5 October 2007
More cycling pics!
Our last dinner at Hotel Dory was a bit of an event, since this is their 10th year.
Is it just me or do we all look slimmer than when we started?
This was an amazing view to reward us for our 5km ascent. Where the blurry background changes colour slightly in the photo is the horizon on the Adriatic sea... no that you can tell!
It's a tough life but someone's gotta do it!
Today's route was the most scenic of them all, with breathtaking views, although I have to say there were some much better ones than this! We were just going too fast to get my camera out...
See, I really was there, I did do it!
Mmmmm Vino Santo - so sweet and so good. I can't believe we all made the 20km back to the hotel! Dad bought 3 bottles...
New gear - my Hotel Cory cycling nicks and dad's kickass new jersey!End of chapter on cycling in Italy
We had our last ride today, a cruisey 65km, and will be sorry to wave goodbye to our beautiful carbon Scott road bikes. Riding will never be the same again. However, having gradually killed off or broken every slow member of our group since the first day (except one, but he got allocated a guide all of his own) we managed to go out with a bang, at least. With a much stronger group we didn't have to wait so long at the tops of the hills, which was lucky because there were two stretches of around 5km each of steady climbing. Surprisingly a overtook most people on the way up - the advantage of young legs I guess, cos after 2 months of travelling I am NOT at my fittest! Then the descents... wow, it felt like flying! I cracked 60km/h at one point, and trust me in lycra, on a bike, that feels REALLY fast! So much fun! We also probably had the best views of all today - massive castles in the distance and the stopping near Gabicce Monte for coffeem 200m above the Adriatic coastline. We dined in the hotel restaurant with all our new friends (every English speaker we could scrape together, really! We were a bit thin on the ground really. Thin on the air... just generally quite slim hahahahahahaha) and got through several glasses of wine, then sat through 1 and a half hours of photos and presentations by the hotel owner and guides in a haphazard and fairly incomplete mix of Italian, French, German and English! Unfortunately the only language any of them speaks fluently is Italian, and there was not a single Italian cyclist among us. It would seem, however, that the French and German are right up there, along with the Belgians. We were certainly the minority.
Tomorrow the hard work begins - the long-awaited meeting of the real parents and the Italian host family! My brain will be very sore by the end of the weekend, but there should be some good laughs come out of it. Then there's Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Paris & Morocco!
The funny things is, I'm dying to just get back to Rome and get on with the study. As amazing as this has been, with the good food, luxury accomodation and amazing rides, I feeling strangely exhausted. Though being in only adult company (and playing translator for mum and dad and many others) could have something to do with it. It's not as fun as I might have thought!
I'll leave this here and chuck some photos in, but posting will be more difficult after today. Hopefully we'll get lucky with internet access at hotels!
A big hello to all those still sticking with these installments!
Kel xox
Tomorrow the hard work begins - the long-awaited meeting of the real parents and the Italian host family! My brain will be very sore by the end of the weekend, but there should be some good laughs come out of it. Then there's Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Paris & Morocco!
The funny things is, I'm dying to just get back to Rome and get on with the study. As amazing as this has been, with the good food, luxury accomodation and amazing rides, I feeling strangely exhausted. Though being in only adult company (and playing translator for mum and dad and many others) could have something to do with it. It's not as fun as I might have thought!
I'll leave this here and chuck some photos in, but posting will be more difficult after today. Hopefully we'll get lucky with internet access at hotels!
A big hello to all those still sticking with these installments!
Kel xox
Wednesday 3 October 2007
Guest author
Mum may have omitted to mention that it was HER writing the below installment in the Adlam biking saga... just to clear up any confusion! Photos later!
Kel
Kel
A new different perspective on Italy
Dave and I have been in Italy for 5 days now and have loved every single moment. The weather could not have been more perfect, the people could not have been more charming - they even deal with my truly pathetic attempts at Italian, and the riding has been wonderful. Thankfully Kel's Italian and French skills have smoothed the way for us constantly and, as a result,
Kel and I were unepectedly able to join a group trip to Venice yesterday - something I thought I would have to earmark for our next trip. It was an amazing experience - almost beyond words. We had a four hour bus trip from Riccione to Venice then a ferry ride into the city proper. A step into a different world - a city of marble, incredible embellishment, great humour and picture post-card views in every direction. It is everything you've heard and more. The laneways and caffes were teeming with people, the little shops stuffed with beautiful glassworks, clothes etc. And the food outlets seemed to sell an incredible array of goodies - we bought Dave back some fab goodies so he didn't feel too left out. To top it all off Kel insisted I allow pigeons to sit on my head and arms for a photo - I can still feel their scratchy little claws on my scalp!
To top it all off, the central square, San Marco, had a number of little orchestras entertaining the diners and tourists. Sadly we had to leave before sunset - an extra hour to sit and drink a wine or two, listen to the music and just take in the whole place would have been lovely.
We're not done yet - Kel and I are off to Urbino today while Dave does yet another ride through the amazing countryside to see more castles.
Kel and I were unepectedly able to join a group trip to Venice yesterday - something I thought I would have to earmark for our next trip. It was an amazing experience - almost beyond words. We had a four hour bus trip from Riccione to Venice then a ferry ride into the city proper. A step into a different world - a city of marble, incredible embellishment, great humour and picture post-card views in every direction. It is everything you've heard and more. The laneways and caffes were teeming with people, the little shops stuffed with beautiful glassworks, clothes etc. And the food outlets seemed to sell an incredible array of goodies - we bought Dave back some fab goodies so he didn't feel too left out. To top it all off Kel insisted I allow pigeons to sit on my head and arms for a photo - I can still feel their scratchy little claws on my scalp!
To top it all off, the central square, San Marco, had a number of little orchestras entertaining the diners and tourists. Sadly we had to leave before sunset - an extra hour to sit and drink a wine or two, listen to the music and just take in the whole place would have been lovely.
We're not done yet - Kel and I are off to Urbino today while Dave does yet another ride through the amazing countryside to see more castles.
Monday 1 October 2007
Biking in Italy photos - 1
Here we are BEFORE we rode 70km on our first day... All smiles!
Check out the Italian countyside whizzing by!!
Cycing in the Adriatic
Two days in, and some very sore legs and bums in this hotel room of ours! Mum and I are very grateful of a day off tomorrow - we are getting on a bus with a bunch of French speakers (will be a very confusing morning...) to Venice!! What an opportunity for mum! Dad, on the other hand, who ahs already been to Venice, is ploughing ahead with the Tuesday challenge - a 115km "grand tour" through the hills (although after looking at the ride profile I should say mountains) of Emilia Romagna. They have a 20km long climb to do in the middle of it. Mum and I have to leave at 6 and won't get back until 11. SO I imagine we will all be absolutely shattered by tomorrow night!
Meanwhile, we have been having an absolute blast. The hotel package we are on is pretty much all-inclusive, so we get breakfast, a packed lunch, rider's buffet/3 course dinner with wine and beer, non-alcoholic drinks at the bar, daily massages, washing service, sauna, terkish steam room, spa complete with waterfall and pool! And we're right near the beach and a whole lot of AMAZING shopping! We've done 130km over two days (not bad considering it's only my 2nd time on a road bike ever...) and come up against some pretty serious hills! My legs were burning after some of them! But the bikes we're riding are the latest technolog carbon fibre - you could pick them up with one finger and they are soooooo smooth! Stark contrast to the clunky old mountain bike! And the guides are real characters too, all of them european (Swiss, Italian..) and all well aged, clearly very, very elite cyclists in their time, and all with a wicked sense of humour. Today we had a massive bbq lunch out in the country at the hotel owner's vineyard, which was a very jolly time - about 200 sweaty but satisfied riders chowing down on good food and wine. Then we has to ride home!!
Oh, a news flash, just when I thought my travelling was almost over - I'm going to Barcelona and San Sebastion in November with Ilaria for a few days!!! Well, hopefully. There are some really cheap flights and we both really want to go! Then I need to STOP travelling and STUDY. It's so hard with everything just at my fingertips and so many budget airlines!!! Argh! Somebody stop me!
Kel
Meanwhile, we have been having an absolute blast. The hotel package we are on is pretty much all-inclusive, so we get breakfast, a packed lunch, rider's buffet/3 course dinner with wine and beer, non-alcoholic drinks at the bar, daily massages, washing service, sauna, terkish steam room, spa complete with waterfall and pool! And we're right near the beach and a whole lot of AMAZING shopping! We've done 130km over two days (not bad considering it's only my 2nd time on a road bike ever...) and come up against some pretty serious hills! My legs were burning after some of them! But the bikes we're riding are the latest technolog carbon fibre - you could pick them up with one finger and they are soooooo smooth! Stark contrast to the clunky old mountain bike! And the guides are real characters too, all of them european (Swiss, Italian..) and all well aged, clearly very, very elite cyclists in their time, and all with a wicked sense of humour. Today we had a massive bbq lunch out in the country at the hotel owner's vineyard, which was a very jolly time - about 200 sweaty but satisfied riders chowing down on good food and wine. Then we has to ride home!!
Oh, a news flash, just when I thought my travelling was almost over - I'm going to Barcelona and San Sebastion in November with Ilaria for a few days!!! Well, hopefully. There are some really cheap flights and we both really want to go! Then I need to STOP travelling and STUDY. It's so hard with everything just at my fingertips and so many budget airlines!!! Argh! Somebody stop me!
Kel
Saturday 29 September 2007
Long time no write!!
Hey everyone!
I've been pretty much cut off from the world for the past few weeks, but I must admit that might have been a good thing. It has certainly been a very fruitful period for study - in 2 weeks I've managed to collect and interpret almost all the available concrete data I needed, and after days of locking myself in a dark room with only my computer for company, playing with thousands of numbers and excel spreadsheets, I have managed to end up with some pretty pictures and graphs which appear to represent the entire southern 10km of the TIber River Delta in a 2D profile! I may have been staying in the middle of nowhere with people I'd never met before, with no firends anywhere nearby nor any chance of meeting any, but my hosts have been absolutely adorable, making me feel so at home, and besides Civitanova and all my "family" and friends there are only a few hours away.
For now I am thankfully blessed with full wireless access for the entire week, thanks to the Hotel Dory in Riccione. Mum and Dad flew in very early thismorning, and the entire journey from Sydney to here via Rome has gone without a single hiccup... except that mum appears to have left her beautiful brand new camera at the changeover station and is really devastated. I am bewildered that I was unable to get a hold of a single person that worked for the whole Italian rail network ANYWHERE in Italy in any department, to see if it had been handed in (which I doubt, but how can I not at least try???). Now they are both tucked safely into bed after a very, very long journey (44 hrs all up???) to let their puffy ankles go down and regain strength for the ride tomorrow! I felt a bit like a parent at times today, with my packed lunch and constant advice... but it was also so exciting to relive my first impressions of Italy though mum's eyes! I hope I can show them all the beauty and fascination I've found in this country - we should get a pretty good taste of it! Can't wait to see how teh various dinners with host families etc go, should be hilarious!!
The hotel, although a little squishy, is lovely. We're going to be very comfy here this week! We have buffet breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner included every day, and lots of interesting bike rides to do around Emilia Romagna, including castles and wine tasting and BBQ lunch out in the country. Should be wonderful! Plus I get to catch up with even more people who I haven't seen for years.
You will have to put up with daily posts from me, since I am making the most of this internet access, so look forward to cycling anecdotes and updates on my poor physical health after 2 months of drinking and sleep-deprivation ;-) Just kidding, it will be a bit f a shock to the system but the "Capuccino" level shouldn't be too taxing overall.
Please write me (and mum and dad, where applicable) emails, I promise I will reply if I get them before Friday! Would love to hear what everyone is up to!
Lots of love to all
Kellie
I've been pretty much cut off from the world for the past few weeks, but I must admit that might have been a good thing. It has certainly been a very fruitful period for study - in 2 weeks I've managed to collect and interpret almost all the available concrete data I needed, and after days of locking myself in a dark room with only my computer for company, playing with thousands of numbers and excel spreadsheets, I have managed to end up with some pretty pictures and graphs which appear to represent the entire southern 10km of the TIber River Delta in a 2D profile! I may have been staying in the middle of nowhere with people I'd never met before, with no firends anywhere nearby nor any chance of meeting any, but my hosts have been absolutely adorable, making me feel so at home, and besides Civitanova and all my "family" and friends there are only a few hours away.
For now I am thankfully blessed with full wireless access for the entire week, thanks to the Hotel Dory in Riccione. Mum and Dad flew in very early thismorning, and the entire journey from Sydney to here via Rome has gone without a single hiccup... except that mum appears to have left her beautiful brand new camera at the changeover station and is really devastated. I am bewildered that I was unable to get a hold of a single person that worked for the whole Italian rail network ANYWHERE in Italy in any department, to see if it had been handed in (which I doubt, but how can I not at least try???). Now they are both tucked safely into bed after a very, very long journey (44 hrs all up???) to let their puffy ankles go down and regain strength for the ride tomorrow! I felt a bit like a parent at times today, with my packed lunch and constant advice... but it was also so exciting to relive my first impressions of Italy though mum's eyes! I hope I can show them all the beauty and fascination I've found in this country - we should get a pretty good taste of it! Can't wait to see how teh various dinners with host families etc go, should be hilarious!!
The hotel, although a little squishy, is lovely. We're going to be very comfy here this week! We have buffet breakfast, a packed lunch and dinner included every day, and lots of interesting bike rides to do around Emilia Romagna, including castles and wine tasting and BBQ lunch out in the country. Should be wonderful! Plus I get to catch up with even more people who I haven't seen for years.
You will have to put up with daily posts from me, since I am making the most of this internet access, so look forward to cycling anecdotes and updates on my poor physical health after 2 months of drinking and sleep-deprivation ;-) Just kidding, it will be a bit f a shock to the system but the "Capuccino" level shouldn't be too taxing overall.
Please write me (and mum and dad, where applicable) emails, I promise I will reply if I get them before Friday! Would love to hear what everyone is up to!
Lots of love to all
Kellie
Saturday 15 September 2007
Amsterdam, Prague and Cesky Krumlov
First night in Amsterdam with Kirsten my West Virginian roomie, after braving the sexmuseum!
Here you are Lozz, a canal.... (?) This is Amsterdam in a nutshell, bikes, bridges and canals. Oh I probably shouldn't leave out the drugs and prostitutes either...
A windmill... what can I say, it was basically just a photo op, but still kinda cool!
Amsterdam canals at night
The infamous red light district. In some photos you can actually see the girls in the windows... but not this one evidently!
Jewish monuments abound... this one dedicated to all those who died at the concentration camp at Terezin. 
The Charles Bridge in Prague, with the castle in the background to the left. Buying a mini tripod was the smartest thing I ever did
Absinthe shots as they are supposed to be done... much more stomachable ;-) Or so I hear!
My hips are not thanking me for this meal or all those similar to it... Turkey breast topped with melted camembert cheese and cranberries, with crispy potato pancakes on the side. Mmmmm
Beautiful little Cesky with the Vltava river running through the middle... what you see is pretty much what you get! A quaint little town with a castle and a square...Friday 14 September 2007
Photos from my last few Busabout stops and Lago di Garda
Ahhhhh Prague, unbeatable.
Austria's answer to the Hunter Valley, haha, the Wachau Valley
This castle was just outside Vienna in Durnstein, in the Wachau Valley, where we did a wine tasting tour.
A sword-full of meat.. that's how it comes in Vienna! Nah just kidding, this was a seriously different restaurant
Nicole, my favourite Busabout guide :)
Ahhhh back in Italy - Sirmione (Lago di Garda)
Lago del Garda - it extand right back between those 2 mountains - beautiful
Aaahhh relaxation time
Apologies to all those who had the misfortune to read my previous few entries, they may have been written in a slightly intoxicated state... The fact is, that at the Plus Prague hostel the computers were located right near the bar, so it only seemed logical to combine email-writing and drinking to save on time, you know, European cities to see and very little time to do it in, and all that...
So anyway all the excitement is over now, and it almost seems like it never happened... the hectic world of changing countries every 2 days, constant changing faces, getting confused between 4 different languages, rain, worrying about money and trying to cram a whole capital city and outskirts into 48 hours seems a million miles away, somewhat like a dream. Thankfully I've been blessed with a little time to find myself again - I was meant to head to Rome after 3 days in Civitanova, but Prof. Paolo Tortora is taking a few days holiday and I won't be going until Monday afternoon, giving me one last weekend in my host-town. And for once I am actually here for a big event - la notte bianca. This saturday night the city will come alive, with all the shops staying open all night and streetshows etc going on. Can't wait to see what it's like! The weather is supposed to be good, too. There's been one day of rain but apart from that it's been cool but really sunny, like a perfect Australian autumn day. Not really enough to want to go swimming but, definitely to go to the beach and chill out. I'm making the most as I only have a few days of it left!
As for the rest of the European loop - it was a bit of a disaster. We got to Viena and had a morning of clouds, followed by 2 days of non-stop pouring rain. So to be honest, while I had plenty of fun, I don't feel like I really saw anything of Vienna. The first day we did a grap-grazing tour of the Wachau Valley which should have been on bikes, weaving through the grape vines in the sunshine and then playing beach volleyball by the river... as it was we had to do the whole thing in the minibus and there was no chance of getting any river action... Still, we tried some great wines, had a delicious lunch and an entertaining joke-telling session on the way back into the city. We also got to try some AMAZING liquours, of which I purchased 2 bottles, and a crazy selection of jams, most of which involved apricot, the local fruit. Also, it is said the the Wachau region was the first producer of Riesling wines, as the grapes originated from there and there is a Riesling River whose name predates wine production records.
The second day we tried SOOOO hard to do the right thing and see the sights, but it was sub-10 degrees (I SWEAR) and with the rain and the wind we could not deal any longer. We found refuge in a restaurant, ate like starved children (which we certainly weren't after 5 days in the Czech Republic) and dashed into the metro to go straight home. At least my last night was a real ripper though - in every major city we overlap with the Busabout group behind us on the last night, so I caught up with a few people and who should be their guide? The same crazy chick who made our time in Greece so much fun - Nicole!! When I fist started busabout Northern loop I dreamed that she had appeared on the main circuit, and low and behold she appeared on my very last night in Europe, divine providence I do believe! So after a crazy dinner at "Centimeter" where we got through a sword's worth of meat and 2 metres of beer (?!?!?) I hit up the bar and proceeded to get "well-munted" with Nicole, for the last time :)
Getting the train the next day was admittedly quite painful, after 2 hours sleep, when I swear I was still slightly drunk... but thankfully it was fairly empty so I was able to curl up in a little ball for the 7 hours into Venice. Thankfully I didn't have to get all the way back to Civitanova, but only had a 2 hour journey to get to the beautiful Lago del Garda where I spent a very peaceful weekend in a B&B, NOT A HOSTEL :-)
Now I've had time to catch up with everyone in Civitanova, including my bestest mate Ilaria, FINALLY, and I still have a weekend to shake the inevitable cold that has caught up with me since I stopped moving around.
Wednesday was the Geo-Italia conference in Rimini where my honours Prof. presented a poster. It was great to get to meet him after months of emails back and forwards, and also a few others from the University, including one of the phd students who is a bit of a waterpolo champ and lives quite nearby Paolo, so I may get back into swimming sooner than I had thought. Feels much better to be going there knowing a few people who can show me around, and I might be able to go out with. Though honestly at this point the less friends I find the better as time is getting very short on this thesis of mine!
As per usual sorry about the essay, that's just what happens when you only write once a week - it seems like there is something happening every day, I can't keep up!!
Love to all, I guess the next post will be coming from Rome,
Kels xox
So anyway all the excitement is over now, and it almost seems like it never happened... the hectic world of changing countries every 2 days, constant changing faces, getting confused between 4 different languages, rain, worrying about money and trying to cram a whole capital city and outskirts into 48 hours seems a million miles away, somewhat like a dream. Thankfully I've been blessed with a little time to find myself again - I was meant to head to Rome after 3 days in Civitanova, but Prof. Paolo Tortora is taking a few days holiday and I won't be going until Monday afternoon, giving me one last weekend in my host-town. And for once I am actually here for a big event - la notte bianca. This saturday night the city will come alive, with all the shops staying open all night and streetshows etc going on. Can't wait to see what it's like! The weather is supposed to be good, too. There's been one day of rain but apart from that it's been cool but really sunny, like a perfect Australian autumn day. Not really enough to want to go swimming but, definitely to go to the beach and chill out. I'm making the most as I only have a few days of it left!
As for the rest of the European loop - it was a bit of a disaster. We got to Viena and had a morning of clouds, followed by 2 days of non-stop pouring rain. So to be honest, while I had plenty of fun, I don't feel like I really saw anything of Vienna. The first day we did a grap-grazing tour of the Wachau Valley which should have been on bikes, weaving through the grape vines in the sunshine and then playing beach volleyball by the river... as it was we had to do the whole thing in the minibus and there was no chance of getting any river action... Still, we tried some great wines, had a delicious lunch and an entertaining joke-telling session on the way back into the city. We also got to try some AMAZING liquours, of which I purchased 2 bottles, and a crazy selection of jams, most of which involved apricot, the local fruit. Also, it is said the the Wachau region was the first producer of Riesling wines, as the grapes originated from there and there is a Riesling River whose name predates wine production records.
The second day we tried SOOOO hard to do the right thing and see the sights, but it was sub-10 degrees (I SWEAR) and with the rain and the wind we could not deal any longer. We found refuge in a restaurant, ate like starved children (which we certainly weren't after 5 days in the Czech Republic) and dashed into the metro to go straight home. At least my last night was a real ripper though - in every major city we overlap with the Busabout group behind us on the last night, so I caught up with a few people and who should be their guide? The same crazy chick who made our time in Greece so much fun - Nicole!! When I fist started busabout Northern loop I dreamed that she had appeared on the main circuit, and low and behold she appeared on my very last night in Europe, divine providence I do believe! So after a crazy dinner at "Centimeter" where we got through a sword's worth of meat and 2 metres of beer (?!?!?) I hit up the bar and proceeded to get "well-munted" with Nicole, for the last time :)
Getting the train the next day was admittedly quite painful, after 2 hours sleep, when I swear I was still slightly drunk... but thankfully it was fairly empty so I was able to curl up in a little ball for the 7 hours into Venice. Thankfully I didn't have to get all the way back to Civitanova, but only had a 2 hour journey to get to the beautiful Lago del Garda where I spent a very peaceful weekend in a B&B, NOT A HOSTEL :-)
Now I've had time to catch up with everyone in Civitanova, including my bestest mate Ilaria, FINALLY, and I still have a weekend to shake the inevitable cold that has caught up with me since I stopped moving around.
Wednesday was the Geo-Italia conference in Rimini where my honours Prof. presented a poster. It was great to get to meet him after months of emails back and forwards, and also a few others from the University, including one of the phd students who is a bit of a waterpolo champ and lives quite nearby Paolo, so I may get back into swimming sooner than I had thought. Feels much better to be going there knowing a few people who can show me around, and I might be able to go out with. Though honestly at this point the less friends I find the better as time is getting very short on this thesis of mine!
As per usual sorry about the essay, that's just what happens when you only write once a week - it seems like there is something happening every day, I can't keep up!!
Love to all, I guess the next post will be coming from Rome,
Kels xox
Monday 3 September 2007
Bohemia budget
The hour-long wait at the Czech border was sercatinly worth it - this place is really something else! Everything here is so incredibly cheap (excet phone cards, unfortunately...), I have managed to eat out for every single meal and get entrees, side dishes and tonnes of wine, for an average of about $15 AUD each time. I went to a chamber orchestra in Prague and treated my ears (and everyone else's) to Pachelbel's canon, Mozart, and Vivaldi's 4 seasons for $25. A tram/metro ride costs around 70c, and I've done a lot of much-needed shopping all whilst staying well under budget.
Prague was stunning, especially at night, with the castle lit up and reflecting into the river. We managed to catch a rave party from the other side of teh river too, with hundreds of colourful lasers and enoromous floating dinosaurs and sea creatures, and smoke machines. It was a pretty amazing view!! I also invested in a tiny tripod for my camera so I can now actually take good night shots!
I am now in a tiny little town called Cesky Krumlov, where I am quite happily doing absolutely nothing. It's beautiful here too though, it boasts a castle, a lovely town square and plenty of quaint little streets with boutiques. Tomorrow it's off to VIenne which may or may not be the last stop on my European adventure, I haven't decided yet.
So in short, my return to Europe will involve doing Switzerland, France and Belgium far more thoroughly, and certainly seeing more of Bohemia!! Go Eastern Europe!!
Prague was stunning, especially at night, with the castle lit up and reflecting into the river. We managed to catch a rave party from the other side of teh river too, with hundreds of colourful lasers and enoromous floating dinosaurs and sea creatures, and smoke machines. It was a pretty amazing view!! I also invested in a tiny tripod for my camera so I can now actually take good night shots!
I am now in a tiny little town called Cesky Krumlov, where I am quite happily doing absolutely nothing. It's beautiful here too though, it boasts a castle, a lovely town square and plenty of quaint little streets with boutiques. Tomorrow it's off to VIenne which may or may not be the last stop on my European adventure, I haven't decided yet.
So in short, my return to Europe will involve doing Switzerland, France and Belgium far more thoroughly, and certainly seeing more of Bohemia!! Go Eastern Europe!!
Thursday 30 August 2007
Plus Prague
Oh my god, come to Amsterdam, and stay at the Plus Prague hostel!!!
The hostel has all the essentials, single beds NOT bunks, ensuite toilet and shower SEPARATED, lockers, windows that OPEN, a 25m indoor pool, sauna and hot showers for free, a bar, restaurant, pool tables, Free internet on 10 computers and breakfast buffet, all INCLUDED IN THE PRICE!!!
AND I just went out for dinner, and had 3 courses, a coke, and several shots all for under $20 AUD...
Can someone explain why this place is so awesome?? I haven't even seen the city yet, and that'supposed to be utterly beautiful!!
Also I will be able to get a whole bunch of photos up here (or maybe just on facebook...) because all the co0mputers here all seem to have USB ports... OH MY GOD
The hostel has all the essentials, single beds NOT bunks, ensuite toilet and shower SEPARATED, lockers, windows that OPEN, a 25m indoor pool, sauna and hot showers for free, a bar, restaurant, pool tables, Free internet on 10 computers and breakfast buffet, all INCLUDED IN THE PRICE!!!
AND I just went out for dinner, and had 3 courses, a coke, and several shots all for under $20 AUD...
Can someone explain why this place is so awesome?? I haven't even seen the city yet, and that'supposed to be utterly beautiful!!
Also I will be able to get a whole bunch of photos up here (or maybe just on facebook...) because all the co0mputers here all seem to have USB ports... OH MY GOD
Free the pee!
The above reference is for anyone is unfortunate enough to have seen The Bridge to Terabithia! (I got stuck watching it on the flight from Korea to Rome)
But seriously, folks! Going to the toilet is costly in Europe! Every pitstop on our bus tours leaves us between 50 cents and 1 euro poorer, and even our puib crawl made us pay for toilets at evry venue - I was redisulously reluctant to buy any drinks after realising I would have to pay every time I needed to go to the bathroom! We all saved it up as long as we could which doesn't make for the liveliest dance floor or the friendliest conversation.....
Why??? I mean fair enough, they need to pay for the upkeep of the toilets, but i'ts like every single building is renting out their toilet space to some independent cleaning company or somethign! Yes the Europeans are clearly opportunists, Angus take a lesson ;) Just screw peo9ple, that's where the secret to success is.
But seriously, folks! Going to the toilet is costly in Europe! Every pitstop on our bus tours leaves us between 50 cents and 1 euro poorer, and even our puib crawl made us pay for toilets at evry venue - I was redisulously reluctant to buy any drinks after realising I would have to pay every time I needed to go to the bathroom! We all saved it up as long as we could which doesn't make for the liveliest dance floor or the friendliest conversation.....
Why??? I mean fair enough, they need to pay for the upkeep of the toilets, but i'ts like every single building is renting out their toilet space to some independent cleaning company or somethign! Yes the Europeans are clearly opportunists, Angus take a lesson ;) Just screw peo9ple, that's where the secret to success is.
Tuesday 28 August 2007
The Berlin Theatre...
I've been stressing about not having enough time in Berlin to see anything and now it is going to be an even greater problem! I would love to extend my stay here by another 2 days but that will only leave me with a day back in Civitanova to get myself sorted... which is so not enough, considering I still need to see Ilaria!!! I'll just ahve to come back. As with most places! But anyway we did a walking tour today for just 10 euro which is advertised as being 4 hours long, and ended up being over 6 hours, plus a green Berliner Beer afterwards! It was by far the best tour I've been on so far, and if anyone is going to Berlin, look up Insider tours. The guy we had was actually on his second last tour and showed us all his favourite parts, which he wouldn't normally include - he is about to head back to Canada to his normal profession, working with the Opera! And boy did we see some theatrics on this tour! He practically reenacted the whole political situation surrounding the erecting and abolition of the Berlin wall, and had me a little teary once or twice. He himself was so overwhelmed by his own theatrics on occasions that he had to turn away and take a moment! Awesome.
All the monuments around the city are mind-blowing. So many buildings have been reconstructed multiple times, some still have bullet holes in them, some are very modern and abstract, both subtle and conspicuous, but all really commemorate the horrors quite accurately. It's obvious that people might not necessarily want to talk about their bloody history, still quite fresh in many people's minds, but they are not willing to risk forgetting it! Around every corner there is some kind of testament to the war or the wall or the jews.
Still not sure what to do with tomorrow, but there's a bike tour out to Potsdam where there are castles - I missed the Schloss in Munich so if it's sunny I might hit that up!! There are hundreds of museums I want to go to but Iäll never make it to all of them. This city deserves a while week.
Love to all, hope you aren't getting bored by reading this!
Kels xox
All the monuments around the city are mind-blowing. So many buildings have been reconstructed multiple times, some still have bullet holes in them, some are very modern and abstract, both subtle and conspicuous, but all really commemorate the horrors quite accurately. It's obvious that people might not necessarily want to talk about their bloody history, still quite fresh in many people's minds, but they are not willing to risk forgetting it! Around every corner there is some kind of testament to the war or the wall or the jews.
Still not sure what to do with tomorrow, but there's a bike tour out to Potsdam where there are castles - I missed the Schloss in Munich so if it's sunny I might hit that up!! There are hundreds of museums I want to go to but Iäll never make it to all of them. This city deserves a while week.
Love to all, hope you aren't getting bored by reading this!
Kels xox
This was meant to be a holiday!
Ok, it's official. The novelty has worn off and travelling is no picnic! Especially when you find yourself in a new city every 3 days!
Amsterdam was an interesting experience - I joined up with a completely new busabout crew and, since everyone tends only to sleep on the bus, didn't really meet any of them before arriving. The lovely, brand new, overly sterile Stayokay Zeeburg put us in all completely different rooms so I still hadn't met anyone by the time we left, except for a West Virginian girl Kirsten from my room - I was lucky to have found her, too! Plenty of people were in rooms by themselves... So while I managed to see a lot in Amsterdam it was kind of lonely because it was just me and Kirsten for 3 whole days!
We wanted to get straight down to business the night we arrived so we tried to get to the Anne Frank House, but just missed it and went to the Sex Museum instead. That was certainly an experience... but for 3 Euro it was hardly one to be missed... we were in stitches the whole time! Pronographic photos from over a century ago, S&M, urinal fetishes, you name it and it was there!
First thing next morning we did the Anne Frank House and while the story of Anne Frank herself was moving, it was the reality of her father surviving the whole ordeal and having to confront these diaries and make decisions about how to get Anne's story out there must have been so heart-wrenching. I can't imagine how anyone would even begin to deal with something like that. Being away from mum and dad always makes something like that seem more real too, but then I'm just emotionally unstable ;-)
The Heineken museum was an intersting experience... more like a mini theme park than a museum, but we got 3 beers during the tour for our 11 euro so it was probably even cheaper than going to a bar! It was kinda cute! That was really just killing time before our bike tour though, and we also spent an hour or two sitting by the canals eating lunch, watching the surprisingly good looking dutch boys riding past on their bikes and boats, drinking beer and smoking who-knows-what! It's a littl too chaotic a city to really appeal to me but damn it would be a fun place to spend a week with mates. It has something to offer to anyone and everything.
The bike tour sped us through the city so I was glad we had already got our bearings, then out into the countryside where we got a 5 second presentation on cheese making and clog making by the wierdest guy I've ever seen, and got some cool chliche`d photos of windmills and giant clogs. Not sure it was really worth it just for the photos, that may have been all I got out of it!
That night Kirindy got into Amsterdam (the only one left from my previous busabout bunch - we should have been actually travelling together had she not missed the bus from Munch, hahahaha) so we did the pub crawl together. No exciting stories but a big night with lots of dancing and some overly keen guys... we bailed, only to find out it was the last place anyway. The bus trip the next day to Berlin was NOT enjoyable, but I still managed to meet some nice people, finally, to hang around with in Berline!
Amsterdam was an interesting experience - I joined up with a completely new busabout crew and, since everyone tends only to sleep on the bus, didn't really meet any of them before arriving. The lovely, brand new, overly sterile Stayokay Zeeburg put us in all completely different rooms so I still hadn't met anyone by the time we left, except for a West Virginian girl Kirsten from my room - I was lucky to have found her, too! Plenty of people were in rooms by themselves... So while I managed to see a lot in Amsterdam it was kind of lonely because it was just me and Kirsten for 3 whole days!
We wanted to get straight down to business the night we arrived so we tried to get to the Anne Frank House, but just missed it and went to the Sex Museum instead. That was certainly an experience... but for 3 Euro it was hardly one to be missed... we were in stitches the whole time! Pronographic photos from over a century ago, S&M, urinal fetishes, you name it and it was there!
First thing next morning we did the Anne Frank House and while the story of Anne Frank herself was moving, it was the reality of her father surviving the whole ordeal and having to confront these diaries and make decisions about how to get Anne's story out there must have been so heart-wrenching. I can't imagine how anyone would even begin to deal with something like that. Being away from mum and dad always makes something like that seem more real too, but then I'm just emotionally unstable ;-)
The Heineken museum was an intersting experience... more like a mini theme park than a museum, but we got 3 beers during the tour for our 11 euro so it was probably even cheaper than going to a bar! It was kinda cute! That was really just killing time before our bike tour though, and we also spent an hour or two sitting by the canals eating lunch, watching the surprisingly good looking dutch boys riding past on their bikes and boats, drinking beer and smoking who-knows-what! It's a littl too chaotic a city to really appeal to me but damn it would be a fun place to spend a week with mates. It has something to offer to anyone and everything.
The bike tour sped us through the city so I was glad we had already got our bearings, then out into the countryside where we got a 5 second presentation on cheese making and clog making by the wierdest guy I've ever seen, and got some cool chliche`d photos of windmills and giant clogs. Not sure it was really worth it just for the photos, that may have been all I got out of it!
That night Kirindy got into Amsterdam (the only one left from my previous busabout bunch - we should have been actually travelling together had she not missed the bus from Munch, hahahaha) so we did the pub crawl together. No exciting stories but a big night with lots of dancing and some overly keen guys... we bailed, only to find out it was the last place anyway. The bus trip the next day to Berlin was NOT enjoyable, but I still managed to meet some nice people, finally, to hang around with in Berline!
Thursday 23 August 2007
Switzerland photos - my second home!!!
This is taken looking down on the Lauterbrunnen valley just before I went paragliding over the edge of the cliff!!!
Back in love with travelling!
Belgium is quirky and adorable and romantic and I've been speaking french for 24 hours now, and loving it! Belgian chocolates, bikes, lace, waffles and terrible weather (we must be near England...)
I have not got nearly enough time here - I had less than a day in Bruxelles and explored as best I could in the pouring rain, but all the sites are scattered randomly throughout the sprawling city so I didn't cover too much ground! I did manage to see the comic strip museum (Belgium is the home of Tin Tin and the Smurfs (schtroumphs - NOT "puffi" you silly Italians!!), eat a giant waffle with strawberries, cream and chocolate, and see an Italian movie which left me feeling all warm and fuzzy. As did the fact that I got to speak French everywhere I went - the first time EVER I've used it in a ligitimate situation, and it's kind of working for me! Yay!! Especially since Brussels lies above the language barrier and should speak Flemmish - it was a pleasant surprise to hear everyone using French.
Brugge is adorable, quite small but a beautiful mixture between medievil and gothic architecture, lots of plant life around and winding canals everywhere. I climbed to the top of the Belfry, checked out a museum, and saw the blood of Christ... once again I've only had an afternoon, but I will be taking a canal tour tomorrow morning and visiting the chocolate museum, as the busabout bus doesn't leave until 1pm. It has been wonderful to be away from Busabout for a few days, actually get a full night's sleep and work on my own agenda. Lesson for the future - be sure to get some time alone and don't follow others around! One more early night tonight and I'll be ready to a little partying in Amsterdam.
Oh, really wierd coincidence - I ran into 3 kiwis as I checked into the hostel here in Brugge, who were in my room in Switzerland 10 days ago! I had no diea they would be here... hbow random is that? You go for years without seeing your classmates, and yet over here you can cross the borders of 6 countries and still run into people!
Gonna get some photos up later tonight if I get lucky. Cross your fingers for me!
I have not got nearly enough time here - I had less than a day in Bruxelles and explored as best I could in the pouring rain, but all the sites are scattered randomly throughout the sprawling city so I didn't cover too much ground! I did manage to see the comic strip museum (Belgium is the home of Tin Tin and the Smurfs (schtroumphs - NOT "puffi" you silly Italians!!), eat a giant waffle with strawberries, cream and chocolate, and see an Italian movie which left me feeling all warm and fuzzy. As did the fact that I got to speak French everywhere I went - the first time EVER I've used it in a ligitimate situation, and it's kind of working for me! Yay!! Especially since Brussels lies above the language barrier and should speak Flemmish - it was a pleasant surprise to hear everyone using French.
Brugge is adorable, quite small but a beautiful mixture between medievil and gothic architecture, lots of plant life around and winding canals everywhere. I climbed to the top of the Belfry, checked out a museum, and saw the blood of Christ... once again I've only had an afternoon, but I will be taking a canal tour tomorrow morning and visiting the chocolate museum, as the busabout bus doesn't leave until 1pm. It has been wonderful to be away from Busabout for a few days, actually get a full night's sleep and work on my own agenda. Lesson for the future - be sure to get some time alone and don't follow others around! One more early night tonight and I'll be ready to a little partying in Amsterdam.
Oh, really wierd coincidence - I ran into 3 kiwis as I checked into the hostel here in Brugge, who were in my room in Switzerland 10 days ago! I had no diea they would be here... hbow random is that? You go for years without seeing your classmates, and yet over here you can cross the borders of 6 countries and still run into people!
Gonna get some photos up later tonight if I get lucky. Cross your fingers for me!
Tuesday 21 August 2007
Germany vs Switzerland 2007 - no contest!
There is a massive storm brewing outside and rain is bucketing down onto the glass roof of the hostel's "winter garden" and almost drowning out the music coming from the bar - seems to be the perfect time to write the happenings of the past week. I have to admit I am getting over the constant travel, the changing faces and places, living out of a suitcase and, above all, sharing a room with smelly, dirty, creepy boys. Nothing aginst boys in general of course, I have just been very unlucky... That said, I have packed an awful lot into only 9 days and am beginning to pay for it, once again, in lack of sleep and the resulting bad mood!
Ok so from where I stand, Switzerland is the land of perfection, Munich is just completely random...
Bern
I was welcomed into this cosy, clean, medievil city with open arms. From the moment I stepped off the train a man pushing a pram with family in tow stopped me to check that I knew where I was going - luckily, because I was heading in the somplete wrong direction. He gave me perfect directions in English and I was off to my hostel in no time. I just have had that bewildered traveller's "first time in Bern" look! How often does that happen, that people will actually stop YOU to volunteer directions when they think you need them? Enough said, i was already in love with Switzerland! The walk to hostel only confirmed that love. I have seen a lot of beautiful medievil cities in my travels through italy, but none as charming and PERFECT as this one. The 15 minute walk showed me a few very wide pedestrian-only streets, a tram service which seemed to run every 2 minutes, a fountain at every intersection, large colourful medievil flags (the city's mascot, the Bear, the Swiss cross, etc) hanging from every second shuttered window, every other window bearing bright red flowers. The buildings themselves were clean, all of similar height, and all boasting covered archways which, I later found out add up to 6km worth of shopping malls. The people walking the streets seemed to actually LIVE there, very few tourists were wandering around. The hostel itself was the cleanest and best organised I had yet been to, and all of my room-mates lovely. Despite travelling alone I managed to find dinner and drinking buddies without any problems, but was happy to spend the days exploring alone.
I was ecstatic to have two whole days to explore this city, quite a niovelty after the rushed Greek islands experience, and was determined to make the most of it. The first day I just walked everywhere I could, scoping the place out, and took hundreds of photos of fountains and beautiful streets. Since it only takes about 15 minutes to cross the city centre, i managed to cover some serious ground. I found the bear-pit, a pretty depressing site as the two bears inside spend their days looking up at the tourists and basically begging for treats. From there a sharp incline leads to the large rose garden which looks over the whole city of Bern from a great height - it is so beautiful the way it is nesteld in the bend of the Aare River. It was a beautifully relaxing day, as my first day travelling solo. I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it. Especially when I was rolling those hand-made Swiss chocolates around inside my mouth, mmmmmm.
The second day I packed as much in as I could, visiting the Einstein museum, climbing the gothic Minster Cathedral tower (not sure how high it was but I estimate around 300 steps in the tight spiral staircase leading to the top... dizzying!), and went down to the river where you can supposedly jump in and be carried along by the current. Unfortunately the river just happened to be raging and swimming was not recommended - at all. So i didn't get to try that little novelty. I spent my last night at the outdoor cinema over the top of the train station where they were screening English movies with German and French subtitles.
Lauterbrunnen
Early-ish next morning I wandered down to the train station and jumped on to the next train to Interlaken, the beautiful city on the enormous, crystal clear lake supplied by glacial melt. After Interlaken I had a little trouble breathing as the train wound its way through the stunning alps, luscious green alternating with snow-capped peaks. The train track mostly ran parallel with babbling brooks and rushing rivers, all full of glacial melt water, on the other side of which hikers and mountain-bikers were having the time of their lives on the abundant cycle paths. The weather was perfect and everything so beautiful, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight that awaited when I got off the train!
Just to set the picture, it was already a perfect day and Lauterbrunnen sits at an altitude of around 800m, so it seems even clearer than it is. Stepping out of the station I found before me a single inclining street lined with more of the same medievil flags, running through a luscious green valley, lined on either side by 800m high cliffs topped with more greenery, which sparkled with the recent rain fall and spewed forth from a great height several waterfalls, one of which was audible from where I stood, about 1km from its base. Lauterbrunnen literally means "valley fountain" or valley of the waterfalls, and I had expected to be blown away by it, but the reality cannot be expressed by either words or photos. It was AWESOME. The 4.6km high Jungfrau Joch loomed ahead, at the end of the valley, sparkling such an extreme white it seemed purple. I stood there like an idiot with my pack on and my mouth wide open and just stared for a few minutes. A few tears made their way out of one eye and I had to simultaneously resist the urge to burst out laughing. Like seriously, amazing.
Unfortunately there is so much to do in the Interlaken Oberland I had no hope of ever being satisfied with my stay, and have resigned myself to the fact that I absolutely must return. And probably take dad with me to throw himself off some REAL cliffs on the mountain bike :) After the first afternoon, average weather prevented me from doing too much, but i did manage to have 2 huge nights at the "Bomb Shelter", the cramped underground bar reserved only for Contiki and busabout, visit the Trummelback Falls, a series of underground raging waterfalls, go paragliding from a height of about 1.8km over the Lauterbrunnen valley and go white-water rafting through the raging river. I was devastated not to be able to climb to the top of Jungfrau or the slightly smaller Schilthorn, due to both time and weather constraints, but since I had a few hours between activities I was determined to do SOMETHING... talking to my paragliding pilot scored me a free lift into Grindelwald, which was a much larger valley than Lauterbrunnen and equally beautiful in a different way.
Needless to say Switzerland left both my wallet and my energy supply very drained!! But in 7 days I didn't manage to find a single thing bad about it. Except maybe the abundant gun ownership, that worried me a little, but there was no sign of it anywhere at least!
Munich
Beer drinking capital of the world... this city was founded by monks who found that brewing beer was a good way to beat the hunger of their fasting regime... personally I call that cheating! But the fact that beer drinking and religion went hand in hand to create this city says a lot about its present-day state. It is just so RANDOM.
Enormous beer gardens which are full all day, every day of the week, a diet of pork knuckle and sausages, beer for breakfast... a heart attack waiting to happen. how this population has survived until now I do not know. The architecture is very mixed due to the fact that 60 % of the buildings were flattened in WWII, so it's very difficult to deifne the character of this city.
Our first night consisted of a beer-crawl, where I very proudly drank a whole (almost) Stein of Augustiner beer, bellowing "PROST" and clunking glasses with all my new busabout mates. It just got better (and messier) from there. We all had so much fun and had many stories the next day, but doing the 3 hour walking tour with a hangover was not the best idea. Nor was trying to cram in a 2 hour visit to the Dachau concentration camp.
Dachau deserved much more time than we gave it, I ran out of time to even go into the museum where all the informaiton was. I don't think i got the full effect of the place, but even knowing very little about it, you walk onto those huge grounds and just feel your skin prickle. Very little of the original remains, but they've done a good job reconstructing just enought to give testament to the horrors that occurred there, combined with a few very effective monuments, one of which is set out against the sky and depicts dark, writhing bodies entwined with barbed wire... awful stuff. I just can't believe I was walking as a tourist around the vast, empty space where so many people where mercilessly tortured and killed. The silence was very thick, I imgaine it would have been the same even when the place was full of prisoners. You just can't imagine what they went through. Well I can't anyway, no matter how hard I try.
Verdict:
I had possibly the worst hsotel experience imaginable in Munich (will write at a later date), which tainted my entire stay and meant that Switzerland is the clear winner from the last week and now my officially adopted 2nd home. I need to find myself a swiss man, as I don't like my chances of breaching those borders through any other means and am too scared of all the guns to try and do so anyway...
For now it is getting late and I have to be up at 4am for a flight to Brussles, so I bid ye goodbye, but please stay tuned for the exciting adventures of rat-boy.
Ok so from where I stand, Switzerland is the land of perfection, Munich is just completely random...
Bern
I was welcomed into this cosy, clean, medievil city with open arms. From the moment I stepped off the train a man pushing a pram with family in tow stopped me to check that I knew where I was going - luckily, because I was heading in the somplete wrong direction. He gave me perfect directions in English and I was off to my hostel in no time. I just have had that bewildered traveller's "first time in Bern" look! How often does that happen, that people will actually stop YOU to volunteer directions when they think you need them? Enough said, i was already in love with Switzerland! The walk to hostel only confirmed that love. I have seen a lot of beautiful medievil cities in my travels through italy, but none as charming and PERFECT as this one. The 15 minute walk showed me a few very wide pedestrian-only streets, a tram service which seemed to run every 2 minutes, a fountain at every intersection, large colourful medievil flags (the city's mascot, the Bear, the Swiss cross, etc) hanging from every second shuttered window, every other window bearing bright red flowers. The buildings themselves were clean, all of similar height, and all boasting covered archways which, I later found out add up to 6km worth of shopping malls. The people walking the streets seemed to actually LIVE there, very few tourists were wandering around. The hostel itself was the cleanest and best organised I had yet been to, and all of my room-mates lovely. Despite travelling alone I managed to find dinner and drinking buddies without any problems, but was happy to spend the days exploring alone.
I was ecstatic to have two whole days to explore this city, quite a niovelty after the rushed Greek islands experience, and was determined to make the most of it. The first day I just walked everywhere I could, scoping the place out, and took hundreds of photos of fountains and beautiful streets. Since it only takes about 15 minutes to cross the city centre, i managed to cover some serious ground. I found the bear-pit, a pretty depressing site as the two bears inside spend their days looking up at the tourists and basically begging for treats. From there a sharp incline leads to the large rose garden which looks over the whole city of Bern from a great height - it is so beautiful the way it is nesteld in the bend of the Aare River. It was a beautifully relaxing day, as my first day travelling solo. I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend it. Especially when I was rolling those hand-made Swiss chocolates around inside my mouth, mmmmmm.
The second day I packed as much in as I could, visiting the Einstein museum, climbing the gothic Minster Cathedral tower (not sure how high it was but I estimate around 300 steps in the tight spiral staircase leading to the top... dizzying!), and went down to the river where you can supposedly jump in and be carried along by the current. Unfortunately the river just happened to be raging and swimming was not recommended - at all. So i didn't get to try that little novelty. I spent my last night at the outdoor cinema over the top of the train station where they were screening English movies with German and French subtitles.
Lauterbrunnen
Early-ish next morning I wandered down to the train station and jumped on to the next train to Interlaken, the beautiful city on the enormous, crystal clear lake supplied by glacial melt. After Interlaken I had a little trouble breathing as the train wound its way through the stunning alps, luscious green alternating with snow-capped peaks. The train track mostly ran parallel with babbling brooks and rushing rivers, all full of glacial melt water, on the other side of which hikers and mountain-bikers were having the time of their lives on the abundant cycle paths. The weather was perfect and everything so beautiful, but nothing could have prepared me for the sight that awaited when I got off the train!
Just to set the picture, it was already a perfect day and Lauterbrunnen sits at an altitude of around 800m, so it seems even clearer than it is. Stepping out of the station I found before me a single inclining street lined with more of the same medievil flags, running through a luscious green valley, lined on either side by 800m high cliffs topped with more greenery, which sparkled with the recent rain fall and spewed forth from a great height several waterfalls, one of which was audible from where I stood, about 1km from its base. Lauterbrunnen literally means "valley fountain" or valley of the waterfalls, and I had expected to be blown away by it, but the reality cannot be expressed by either words or photos. It was AWESOME. The 4.6km high Jungfrau Joch loomed ahead, at the end of the valley, sparkling such an extreme white it seemed purple. I stood there like an idiot with my pack on and my mouth wide open and just stared for a few minutes. A few tears made their way out of one eye and I had to simultaneously resist the urge to burst out laughing. Like seriously, amazing.
Unfortunately there is so much to do in the Interlaken Oberland I had no hope of ever being satisfied with my stay, and have resigned myself to the fact that I absolutely must return. And probably take dad with me to throw himself off some REAL cliffs on the mountain bike :) After the first afternoon, average weather prevented me from doing too much, but i did manage to have 2 huge nights at the "Bomb Shelter", the cramped underground bar reserved only for Contiki and busabout, visit the Trummelback Falls, a series of underground raging waterfalls, go paragliding from a height of about 1.8km over the Lauterbrunnen valley and go white-water rafting through the raging river. I was devastated not to be able to climb to the top of Jungfrau or the slightly smaller Schilthorn, due to both time and weather constraints, but since I had a few hours between activities I was determined to do SOMETHING... talking to my paragliding pilot scored me a free lift into Grindelwald, which was a much larger valley than Lauterbrunnen and equally beautiful in a different way.
Needless to say Switzerland left both my wallet and my energy supply very drained!! But in 7 days I didn't manage to find a single thing bad about it. Except maybe the abundant gun ownership, that worried me a little, but there was no sign of it anywhere at least!
Munich
Beer drinking capital of the world... this city was founded by monks who found that brewing beer was a good way to beat the hunger of their fasting regime... personally I call that cheating! But the fact that beer drinking and religion went hand in hand to create this city says a lot about its present-day state. It is just so RANDOM.
Enormous beer gardens which are full all day, every day of the week, a diet of pork knuckle and sausages, beer for breakfast... a heart attack waiting to happen. how this population has survived until now I do not know. The architecture is very mixed due to the fact that 60 % of the buildings were flattened in WWII, so it's very difficult to deifne the character of this city.
Our first night consisted of a beer-crawl, where I very proudly drank a whole (almost) Stein of Augustiner beer, bellowing "PROST" and clunking glasses with all my new busabout mates. It just got better (and messier) from there. We all had so much fun and had many stories the next day, but doing the 3 hour walking tour with a hangover was not the best idea. Nor was trying to cram in a 2 hour visit to the Dachau concentration camp.
Dachau deserved much more time than we gave it, I ran out of time to even go into the museum where all the informaiton was. I don't think i got the full effect of the place, but even knowing very little about it, you walk onto those huge grounds and just feel your skin prickle. Very little of the original remains, but they've done a good job reconstructing just enought to give testament to the horrors that occurred there, combined with a few very effective monuments, one of which is set out against the sky and depicts dark, writhing bodies entwined with barbed wire... awful stuff. I just can't believe I was walking as a tourist around the vast, empty space where so many people where mercilessly tortured and killed. The silence was very thick, I imgaine it would have been the same even when the place was full of prisoners. You just can't imagine what they went through. Well I can't anyway, no matter how hard I try.
Verdict:
I had possibly the worst hsotel experience imaginable in Munich (will write at a later date), which tainted my entire stay and meant that Switzerland is the clear winner from the last week and now my officially adopted 2nd home. I need to find myself a swiss man, as I don't like my chances of breaching those borders through any other means and am too scared of all the guns to try and do so anyway...
For now it is getting late and I have to be up at 4am for a flight to Brussles, so I bid ye goodbye, but please stay tuned for the exciting adventures of rat-boy.
Wednesday 15 August 2007
Santorini... too many photos to put up!
Amy and Sophie from NZ - I always seem to end up hanging around with kiwis, why!?! Doesn't the sunset do wonders for our skin? hahaha
Our crazy guide again, and Ness the kiwi.
Here I am standing on the crater of a volcano, yes the same one which was spouting out hot steam, that's right Lozza!
Mmmm yep I'm not even going to write anything about this one.
Caldera of the volcano in the middle of the island group making up Santorini.
Sunset Picnic at Oia, where all the classic sunset shots are taken.
Picture postcard perfect Santorini - the town of Fira. Shopping was waaaay too good there, bad for the bank balance.
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