London is burning...

So here we are, 3.5 weeks down and my last post is here!! For my last couple of days in London, we did some shopping at the local discount outlets and got some good bargains... the only thing now is where will it all go when I get home? I'll have to go through my closet and throw some things out, that's for sure! Tuesday night was spent wandering around Whitechapel on one of the "Jack the Ripper tours" which was quite good. We visited several of the sites where bodies were found and our tour guide made it all very interesting and entertaining. We also got to see some of the mortuary photos and stuff like that which was a bit gruesome... http://www.jack-the-ripper-tour.com/ Afterwards, we headed for a couple of drinks in Soho before racing madly to catch the last train home so we didn't face a 20 min walk from the bus stop. I've done that walk enough times now that if I don't do it again, I really will not mind in the least! For my last day, it was spent largely packing and readying myself to go before popping into Soho one last time for a bite to eat. We had a lovely lunch and got back to Troy's with plenty of time for the journey to the airport to begin my 32 hour trip home via Dubai and Brunei. It has been an adventure but I'm very much looking forward to getting home to see all of you and to sleep in my own bed! I hope you've enjoyed this, my first blog... thanks for joining me on it!! See you all very soon!

Royal Dead Dudes!!

After getting in early Saturday morning, we spent most of the day napping, doing laundry and generally resting before heading out for dinner in Soho. We went to a vegetarian restaurant (Troy's bf is vegan) and had a noice moil. I had a lovely Aubergine and tomato curry which could only have been improved with a bit of meat in it! Aftewards it was a quick drink at a local bar before going back to Troy's place where his flatties, Jen and Steph were having a few bottles of red wine and singing their way through the I-Pod. Well, what else was there to do but join in eh? The 3 of us soon worked out way through 3 bottles of Merlot and The Carpenters Greatest Hits :), as well as some great duets from Moulin Rouge and some great medley's from Sister Act... Luckily for us, they live above a pub and we could blame the noise on "a bad kareoke contest we think was happening downstairs"... Sunday we headed to see the Tower of London which was V interesting and saw the torture chamber and various rooms old royal dead dudes lived in, one of which was Henry VIII and we also saw where Anne Boylen was beheaded. All very historical and all a bit nice really. Today, we headed to the country to Kent to see Leeds Castle which was beautiful. The weather was crap and cold and raining most of the day but it had the upside of keeping the hordes of tourists away. Leeds Castle was another of Henry VIII's residences at one time, as well as Elizabeth I and a heap more royal dead dudes. We sauntered through the gardens of the massive estate and got lost in the labyrynth of hedges in the grounds. Running about, in the rain and trying to find the middle which was elevated and let you look over the maze...

All very cool and definitely a place to out on the "please come again" list for next time!

Anyone for Hollandaise?

Coming home yesterday, we came across another Sex Museum. As we were so disappointed with the first one we visited, we thought we'd give this one a burl. Much bigger than the other one but not too exciting either. They did however have one room featuring lots of pictures involving different kinds of acts involving bottom lovers, animals (ewww) and of course there was one of the "wet set" variety. Don't worry Mark, I know how much you love wet set so I took some pictures for you!! :) After that, we decided to wander down to the Amstel district which is kind of like the "cool' gay area here much like Darlinghurst in Sydney, whereas we're staying in the Kings Cross (V V seedy) equivalent. Had some lunch there and walked down the "Canal of the Seven Bridges" which was quite pretty. From there, it was back to the floating flower market for Troy to buy some things he saw the other day and then back to the hotel for a rest. Once refreshed, I took myself off to the Anne Frank Huis (we only walked past it the other day due to the long lines out front) which is the building her family hid in during the Natzi occupation of The Netherlands. Her father was the director of a factory for jams and spices and converted some of the back rooms that no one knew about into living quaters for his family and they hid there for several years while the factory continued below them with only a few people knowing about their prescence. All very sad really and it makes you think about how even today various people and groups are still persecuted for their religion, beliefs, sexuality or race and it made me want to try and be more tolerant of other peoples. Tonight we will pack and then head out for a few last drinks to bid farewell to Amsterdam before flying back to London tomorrow morning. After my first trip to Europe, I am glad to have been here and really look forward to coming back in a couple of years to see more. There are a few things I've noticed however that I don't particularly like... one of which (which should be no surprise to any of you) is the lack of service in most places. Everything seems to be too much trouble and even the simplest request has called me me to be more demanding than before (if that's at all possible) to get what I want. (eg bacon and tomato added to my chicken sandwich today) Another thing which is really hard to deal with is that people spit in the street constantly. At least in Sydney certain people spit in the bin and you don't then stand a chance of walking in it! Foul, absolutely foul! Apart from those little things and the relatively high cost of most things (In Paris and Amsterdam at least), I've had a ball but am certainly looking forward to coming home! Actually, there is one more thing which annoyed me most of all and this is evident in London as well as in Europe... when you're at a bar or cafe and you need to pay to use the toilet! People actually sit in the toilets (we've dubbed them "toilet monsters" and collect money, usually .50 euro (about 1 AUD). This of course led to me having an argument with one of them (taking after you here Mum!) after using the loo and I refused "to pay to take a pee" (but not in that nice a words). After telling me that next time I can pee someone else, I told her that I'd "pee" on the bar floor next time if that would suit her... :) Bloody toilet monsters!!

Freaky Deaky Dutch!

Not a real lot has happened since I last gave you all an update... for all of it's reputation, we haven't found that much to do here. Yesterday was spent wandering around the streets just watching the world go by, had an interesting vegetarian meal and then went out for some drinks and a bop. Only problem was the local club only had about 12 ppl there so we soon left and went home to bed. Today we jumped on the train out to Rotterdam which again, didn't leave a huge impression at all. The interesting thing about Rotterdam is that it was mostly destroyed by bombing in 1940 so have had to completely rebuild the city since then. Whereas the rest of Europe is full of old historical buildings dating back centuries, everything there is rather new. the boast some of the most modern building buildings in Europe which just looked like something you'd see in Tokyo really but attractive all the same. We also visited a church there that was one of the only few buldings that weren't bombed. Not really much else there so we looked at a few shops, saw a couple of touristy things and then trained it back to Amsterdam... but hey, at least we didn't get lost today! Good work huh? Will head out again tonight and see what we can find before enjoying our last day here tomorrow!

Amsterdam

We arrived safely and without too much fuss although it was raining when we got here which sucked. Catching trains and then walking in a strange city with suitcases in the rain is not my idea of fun! Found our hotel anywhere (if you can call it that) - it's basically a room in a pub witha bed and a sink and that's it. Shared bathroom facilities (how did that escape me?) and not even a bar fridge or coffee making facilities! Anyway, after trying unsuccessfully to get an upgrade, we took off for our first look around Amsterdam. We were barely 2 metres from our front door and we had our first street drug seller approach and offer us basically everything you can imagine... nothing else to do except head down and keep walking... it seems to be the thing here, since then, we get approached constantly. I guess considering we're staying in the heart of the red light district where you see girls in windows every few metres, we should have expected it. It's quite bizarre to constantly be walking past people openly smoking dope in the street and the smell is particularly strong around certain "cafes". Anyway, we ventured to the Sex Museum to get an education on the ways of love over the centuries. A bit of fun but nothing really that exciting. Amsterdam is quite pretty though with canals everywhere and little cobbled lanes weaving in and out of them. Of course to us, it's like one giant maze but we aren't getting too lost too often.. maybe my sense of direction is improving? Out for a few bevvies last night and to check out the local scene... We went from tiny traditional bars with chech music and a big busted blonde woman behind the bar singing along at the top of her voice and winking at us, to high end cocktail bars playing the latest dance music and filled with neon and mirrors everywhere. (sounds like a strip joint doesn't it? But I assure you all, it wasn't!). Today we did our own walking tour of Amsterdam, visiting Anne Frank's house and the floating flower market as well as lots of lanes filled with tiny shops featuring all kinds of things to spend you money on! Tonight, we will venture out and try to stay out of trouble... with drinks costing upward of 5 euro each (about $10), i don't think it's going to be that hard!

Chatting with Czechoslavakians

So, another couple of days down and I'm about to head to Amsterdam tomorrow so I figured that before I did that, I should write another update from Prague! Saturday night was a good one, we went back to the dance clue we had found the night before, we paced our drinking and we made some friends. Then we left the club and thinking soured quickly. After a mandatory Macca's stop (this is becoming a bad habit isn't it??), we were crossing the road to grab a cab and we were bailed up by 3 Police officers. They gave us a hard time about not using the crossing and it being 5.30am didn't help either... They soon demanded to see our passports and visions of being locked up in a Czechoslavakian cell overnight filled my mind. It took some convincing that we were getting into a cab and heading to our hotel but they eventually let us go. I think it was lucky that we didn't have our passports on us or who knows what would have happened!! They don't seem to like tourists here much, given some of the service we've received and this just went to prove the point! Anyway, crisis averted. Next day we headed to Kutna Hora which is 45 mins south of the city, to see a church made from human bones. Kind of interesting place but a little bit of a let down to be honest. The town itself was completely closed down being Sunday but we of course were not to know and after grabbing a bite to eat, caught a cab back to thr train station for the return trip to Prague. After 1 hr 15, we began to get worried and of course after asking someone, found that we had gotten on train that was not going to Prague!! (Germany probably as there was a lot of people on there with overnight bags) We bolted off the train and onto another one and settled in for another hour and a half ride back to Prague... Who knows where we actually were but I intend to find a map to find out! We managed to see the funny side and it certainly proved to us that we aren't going to win "The Amazing Race" anytime soon! Today in comparison was rather uneventful, we got to our destination and home again no worries. We caught the bus to Terezin which is a small town that the Natzi's took over and made into a concentration camp during WWII. Very interesting, saw the museums and some domitories as well as some tunnels through the prison where they tortured and The view from the train just after we jumped back on to go back to Prague... can you imagine being stranded here??
murdered 2600 people... pretty gruesome stuff and really makes you glad to live in "free" country. Back to Prague safely (albeit on the outskirts of the city where we didn't intend to go) and we both did a bit of shoppping before heading out to have dinner. I figured I should have some real Czech cuisine whilst here so I had the Czech specialty plate which had Dumplings, Roast Pork, Spicy Sausage, Pork Knuckle, Red Cabbage and Sauerkraut. Rosie, it reminded me of lunch at your parents place!! Beautiful food and lovely bottle of wine to finish of a very interesting trip to Prague! Last night in Prague...Off to Amsterdam at 7.00 tomorrow morning, I can only hope it will be as much fun!

Prague

Well, our arrival in Prague was interesting. After waiting 45 minutes for our driver to turn up he finally did and it helped that he spoke like a smurf - it certainly eased the tension as Troy and I tried to control ourselves from bursting out in laughter everytime he spoke!! Quite possibly THE highest male voice I have ever heard aside from Michael Jackson!! Drove into Prague which is exactly how I imagined it, tiny cobbled streets surrounded by beautiful old buildings and lots of churches. We first spotted Prague Castle on our entry to the city - sitting atop a hill overlooking the city and absolutely stunning! After a visit to the supermarket for supplies, we headed out for our first wander around the streets. We soon found Old Town Square and the Excelsior Clock and the huge bell towers from where we heard the bells tolling soon after our arrival. They toll every hour and half hour and everytime it just reminds me of where I am! The downside to the square were the hordes of abrasive American tourists clogging the place up. We were going to do an organised tour but after seeing them, we will be staying as far away from them as possible!! We then headed away from them into the tiny lanes around the square towards the river for a good look around and found some interesting shops selling everything from Cannibis Vodka to Absynthe. Prague is definitely a city one could get into trouble in!! We headed out that night to various bars and clubs and caught a cab home who dropped us blocks away from our apartment due to roadworks. Tired and lost in the sreets of Prague at 4am in the morning after a few too many drinks... should I have expected anything else? Finally found the apartment after wandering around for about 45 mins and fell into bed fully clothed. Naughty Daniel!! The fact that we're on the top floor of our building with 98 stairs and no lift was not well appreciated at that moment!The next day it was up and at em and straight to Prague Castle to have a look close up and to explore the other side of the river. We climbed the 297 stairs to the top of the Castle for more amazing views and then home to refuel and recharge before heading out to do it all again tonight!