Spent a week in Wales with one of my best friends Alison. It was great to see her after 9 months and also catch up on sleep in my OWN ROOM and spread the contents of my backpack all over the place.
Next stop was Paris...spent a week looking at the sights and walking through museums and still feel like I haven't seen the whole city.
Met a girl called Julie who is doing busabout with me and spent a day at Euro Disneyland. It was great fun but it didn't bring back the childhood memories... probably because the good old Disney characters like Snow White and Cinderella have been replaced with Buzz Lightyear and the Incredibles.
My favourite place in Paris was the Palace of Versailles - home to King Louis the 14th and Marie Antionette before the French revolution. It was so luxurious... massive chandeliers and velvet wallpaper, family portraits taking up the whole wall. The gardens were so lush and so big that I hired a bike just so that I could see the whole grounds.
Started my Busabout adventure - a hop on, hop off bus that goes in a loop to the major cities throughout Europe and drops you off at hostels they recommend. My next stop was Munich - home of Octoberfest and the famour beer hall Hofbrauhaus. Tried to drink a steine of beer but had to leave some behind.. must have drank it too slowly and warm beer isn't very tasty!I went for a tour in King Ludwig's castle - the castle that the Walt Disney castle was based on. It was so beautiful, perched on top of a hill with a beautiful view. Unfortunately I couldn't take photos inside, but it was so dark and gothic - the architecture was based on the operas written by Richard Wagner. Suspicious circumstances surrounded the death of King Ludwig in 1886 and the castle was never completed but has been open to the public ever since.
The most disturbing and sickening place I have ever seen is the Dachau concentration camp. It was the first concentration camp established by the Nazi's. It was extremely saddening and made me feel queezy the whole day to think that humanbeings can act in such a way towards others.
A quaint little town in Austria called Innsbruck was my next stop and the sun was starting to shine (finally!). Didn't book any accommodation before I arrived so I was frantically running through the town and got lost before I finally found a hostel to stay in. Innsbruck is in the heart of the Alps, the mountains towered over the town everywhere you turned. I did a 4hr hike up the mountains and it was starting to bring back memories of the Inca trail. The elderly men that organised the free hikes were amazing and super fit. The landscape was beautiful - pine trees, streams flowing, snowcapped mountains.
Randomly ran into a traditional Austrian song and dance show in the main square. Saw lots of knee slapping and listened to some yodelling...
Next stop was Venice. The first day I walked aimlessly through the lanes and over the canals and got lost in the city and ate gelati. Saw Saint Mark's square but there were hardly any of the famous pigeons crowding the square.. apparently they are being poisoned on purpose so that tourists can walk around without stomping on them.
It was so hot in Venice, had to make my way back to the campgrounds outside of Venice where I was staying to make use of the pool.The next day I went to Murano and Burano.. little islands off Venice. Murano is famous for its glass. If it was my last stop I would have come home with a suitcase full of beautiful glass ornaments. Burano was a cute island with colourful buildings and people trying to sell you their famous lace.
Had my first taste of a European beach at Lido in Venice. Dirty stinky water with no waves and black sand...
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