photos and story from europe
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2006 6:49 pmhey guys, i managed to get a few photos up so here they are
http://photobucket.com/albums/b213/Card ... eshow=true
its in a nice slide show for you! but if you dont like that, just hit the button to go back and you can scroll thru at your own leisure!
so my first week was between london and paris, with day trips to stonehenge, bath and versailles. this was with a company called Contiki who are huge for organised tours and its kinda a very aussie thing to do once you want to travel and turn 18. while i was on this tour i basically made friends with 3 other aussie girls 19,21,22. who im still in contact with now being back. im going to visit one in sydney at the weekend which will rock. i found south africans really cool and the kiwis i already knew were great, but sorry guys - all the americans on the tours were cocks, they are very rude. the canadians were wonderful though (thats gotta hurt huh?
)
we visited the london eye, london dungeons, tower of london, westminster abbey, buckingham palace, hydepark, bath stonehenge, trafalgar square, natural history museum, science museum, a musical.....i dunno where else
then off to dover to get the ferry to calais france. bus trip was good, we stopped off at Quick for food, and i was a bit embarrased to speak french, but as the trip went on i realised i may as well, i stopped asking them if they spoke english and just spoke french to them, it was much easier and less hassle and plain fun - since i finally had a use to everything i had studied
here we went to eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, catacombs, notre dame, saint chapelle, louvre, musee dorsay, sacre coeur, luxembourg gardens, moulin rouge (which was just fooking unbelievable) and i met a dt.netter here too and we saw dredg
sampling all the french food was fun, snails and frogs legs are super tasty. after the tour ended, many of the tourists went to italy, some stayed on in paris and others went home. luckily 2 of the girls i was friends with stayed on with me and so we had alot more fun knowing someone we knew was still hanging around.
after a further 5 nights i got the eurostar back to UK. got off at ashford to meet a dt.netter just for a night small town really nice. then onto london after that, and did a few things including watch harry potter and meet dads friends brother.
final day in london was probably the best, met up with another dt.netter and we went to do the tour of lords cricket ground which was just the best thing ever, then we travelled to cambridge met up with 2 other people and saw Porcupine Tree, and later we met and grabbed a photo with Steve Wilson which kinda made going to england worthwhile saw the colleges in Cam which was totally awesome, and had a go at punting.
next stop was liverpool, went to anfield stadium and i loved that, the shopping was great there and the place lit up really great at night time. went on the beatles story museum which although i liked their music i didnt know too much about their history. fantastic it was.
after that i headed to carlisle, this was not really a huge part of my trip just 2 nights there to take it easy, so i booked into a B&B, since i had been spending my time in hostels up till then (since i left contiki tour which we stayed in hotels) and i felt like i could treat myself and i just wanted a room to myself. here i saw the castle and that basically was it, and found out how england and scotland were fighting over the land in that region, quite interesting. however i spent about 10hours in my room watching the snooker final, its so exciting but bloody davis lost, what a dickhead
glasgow was next up, turns out there wasnt much to see there went to the cathedral (funnily enough i dont like religion at all but i found all the architecture fascinating) and then the necropolis - im not sure why graveyards are appealing but its great to look at them and wander thru. took a day trip out to Lanark to see the world heritage site CLyde Falls, had to have a short bush walk to get there though, that was really great. other than that i did a bit of shopping and went ice skating which was rather a bad idea. i have extremely flat feet so consequently they are very wide. and my ankles were rubbing the skates so i had to get off the ice only halfway thru cos i couldnt stand basically. i had huge bruises for days, and by the end of the trip they still hurt 
im fine now.
next up was inverness, oh and i was getting around everywhere by train, i had bought an 8 day rail pass back home before leaving which was dirt cheap and the ticket inspectors are meant to check it and stamp, but they did a lousy job so by the end id used like 4 days worth and was riding free really but im glad i had it i was in inverness for christmas and it was a really awesome town. hostel was very close to the main street so wasnt too far to walk. visiting loch ness was definitely the main reason i was there, but i also just wanted a small place to rest. i thought i woud have a lonely xmas but i met an albanian and 4 brazilians (Which you see in the photos) and we had an absolute cracker of a time, really made being away from home at such a family time much more enjoyable. went out for drinks on boxing day and that was probably closest i got to drunk on my whole trip. i saw a traditional scottish band here too, that was great
off to edinburgh next, unfortunately since it was close to NYE i was unable to book in for many days cos it cost me a bloody fortune otherwise but i had to cram everything into 1.5 days. i met up with dave (blazingmonga) there and we climbed arthurs seat which was extremely tiring, saw the castle, walked princes st and royal mile and did a tour called city of the dead which was to visit the home of a poltergeist, so fascinated with it i bought a book on the history of it. absolutely great read, wish something happened on our tour though!! he found it hilarious that i was so excited to see snow
next up was manchester and i was to be here for new years (shouldve gone to london cos manchester was shit but oh well) saw old trafford which was the main reason for going, shopping district was cool, had a few drinks and didnt do alot really.
feeling a bit homesick by now, after getting back into london i checked into my hostel and headed for some food, called airline and found out the next morning there was a flight home (so i booked onto that which was 2 days ahead of schedule) i was feeling a little down to for other reasons so i figured rather than be bored for 2 days and be sad ill jump on the plane and get ready for a huge flight home.
i was definitely glad to land, mum says ive lost a ridiculouis amount of weight and i took around 6kg off the scales which was impressive, i had estimated around 8kg. but there is a noticeable difference, less belly
since ive been back ive caught up with most of my friends, gone out a few times, bought a laptop and wireless network, and i start work tonight too, which is a bit weird but oh well. and i found out i got into my teaching course, so everything seems to be happening for me right now although today is the first day ive missed being abroad. the sense of adventure has gone and im broke and not alot to do in melbourne right now
so there you go, a brief detailed description
cheers!
- Troy
http://photobucket.com/albums/b213/Card ... eshow=true
its in a nice slide show for you! but if you dont like that, just hit the button to go back and you can scroll thru at your own leisure!
so my first week was between london and paris, with day trips to stonehenge, bath and versailles. this was with a company called Contiki who are huge for organised tours and its kinda a very aussie thing to do once you want to travel and turn 18. while i was on this tour i basically made friends with 3 other aussie girls 19,21,22. who im still in contact with now being back. im going to visit one in sydney at the weekend which will rock. i found south africans really cool and the kiwis i already knew were great, but sorry guys - all the americans on the tours were cocks, they are very rude. the canadians were wonderful though (thats gotta hurt huh?
)
we visited the london eye, london dungeons, tower of london, westminster abbey, buckingham palace, hydepark, bath stonehenge, trafalgar square, natural history museum, science museum, a musical.....i dunno where else
then off to dover to get the ferry to calais france. bus trip was good, we stopped off at Quick for food, and i was a bit embarrased to speak french, but as the trip went on i realised i may as well, i stopped asking them if they spoke english and just spoke french to them, it was much easier and less hassle and plain fun - since i finally had a use to everything i had studied
here we went to eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, catacombs, notre dame, saint chapelle, louvre, musee dorsay, sacre coeur, luxembourg gardens, moulin rouge (which was just fooking unbelievable) and i met a dt.netter here too and we saw dredg
sampling all the french food was fun, snails and frogs legs are super tasty. after the tour ended, many of the tourists went to italy, some stayed on in paris and others went home. luckily 2 of the girls i was friends with stayed on with me and so we had alot more fun knowing someone we knew was still hanging around.
after a further 5 nights i got the eurostar back to UK. got off at ashford to meet a dt.netter just for a night small town really nice. then onto london after that, and did a few things including watch harry potter and meet dads friends brother.
final day in london was probably the best, met up with another dt.netter and we went to do the tour of lords cricket ground which was just the best thing ever, then we travelled to cambridge met up with 2 other people and saw Porcupine Tree, and later we met and grabbed a photo with Steve Wilson which kinda made going to england worthwhile
saw the colleges in Cam which was totally awesome, and had a go at punting.
next stop was liverpool, went to anfield stadium and i loved that, the shopping was great there and the place lit up really great at night time. went on the beatles story museum which although i liked their music i didnt know too much about their history. fantastic it was.
after that i headed to carlisle, this was not really a huge part of my trip just 2 nights there to take it easy, so i booked into a B&B, since i had been spending my time in hostels up till then (since i left contiki tour which we stayed in hotels) and i felt like i could treat myself and i just wanted a room to myself. here i saw the castle and that basically was it, and found out how england and scotland were fighting over the land in that region, quite interesting. however i spent about 10hours in my room watching the snooker final, its so exciting
but bloody davis lost, what a dickhead
glasgow was next up, turns out there wasnt much to see there
went to the cathedral (funnily enough i dont like religion at all but i found all the architecture fascinating) and then the necropolis - im not sure why graveyards are appealing but its great to look at them and wander thru. took a day trip out to Lanark to see the world heritage site CLyde Falls, had to have a short bush walk to get there though, that was really great. other than that i did a bit of shopping and went ice skating which was rather a bad idea. i have extremely flat feet so consequently they are very wide. and my ankles were rubbing the skates so i had to get off the ice only halfway thru cos i couldnt stand basically. i had huge bruises for days, and by the end of the trip they still hurt im fine now.
next up was inverness, oh and i was getting around everywhere by train, i had bought an 8 day rail pass back home before leaving which was dirt cheap and the ticket inspectors are meant to check it and stamp, but they did a lousy job so by the end id used like 4 days worth and was riding free really but im glad i had it
i was in inverness for christmas and it was a really awesome town. hostel was very close to the main street so wasnt too far to walk. visiting loch ness was definitely the main reason i was there, but i also just wanted a small place to rest. i thought i woud have a lonely xmas but i met an albanian and 4 brazilians (Which you see in the photos) and we had an absolute cracker of a time, really made being away from home at such a family time much more enjoyable. went out for drinks on boxing day and that was probably closest i got to drunk on my whole trip. i saw a traditional scottish band here too, that was great
off to edinburgh next, unfortunately since it was close to NYE i was unable to book in for many days cos it cost me a bloody fortune otherwise but i had to cram everything into 1.5 days. i met up with dave (blazingmonga) there and we climbed arthurs seat which was extremely tiring, saw the castle, walked princes st and royal mile and did a tour called city of the dead which was to visit the home of a poltergeist, so fascinated with it i bought a book on the history of it. absolutely great read, wish something happened on our tour though!! he found it hilarious that i was so excited to see snow
next up was manchester and i was to be here for new years (shouldve gone to london cos manchester was shit but oh well) saw old trafford which was the main reason for going, shopping district was cool, had a few drinks and didnt do alot really.
feeling a bit homesick by now, after getting back into london i checked into my hostel and headed for some food, called airline and found out the next morning there was a flight home (so i booked onto that which was 2 days ahead of schedule) i was feeling a little down to for other reasons so i figured rather than be bored for 2 days and be sad ill jump on the plane and get ready for a huge flight home.
i was definitely glad to land, mum says ive lost a ridiculouis amount of weight and i took around 6kg off the scales which was impressive, i had estimated around 8kg. but there is a noticeable difference, less belly
since ive been back ive caught up with most of my friends, gone out a few times, bought a laptop and wireless network, and i start work tonight too, which is a bit weird but oh well. and i found out i got into my teaching course, so everything seems to be happening for me right now
although today is the first day ive missed being abroad. the sense of adventure has gone and im broke and not alot to do in melbourne right now
so there you go, a brief detailed description
cheers!
- Troy
