Hello everyone,
I'm now back home and recovered from the jet lag! I had an awesome trip, so i think I'm going to have to start saving to go away again!
My final day away I spent in Singapore. I woke up at 4am and couldn't sleep til 7am (which was midnight in London) so as a result I woke up 15 minutes before I had to check out of the hostel I was staying in. I just made it and set off to explore Singapore.
My plan was to go to Changi and see the museum and chapel there commemorating the civilians and POWs who were imprisoned in Singapore during WW2. On my way to the MRT station I saw some great shops which made me realise I was back in Asia. It was exciting because the last time I was in Asia was 11 years ago when we lived in Jakarta. So it was fun to see the tailors, wood workers and other shops again, and even to smell the cigarettes, which smell different to Aussie cigarettes!
I caught the MRT to Changi. The MRT is the underground train service and its fastidiously clean. I couldn't work out why everyone was staring at me when I ate a snack for breakfast, until I later discovered it's against the law to eat or drink on the MRT or in the stations (fine 500 dollars). Oops.
I made it Changi and saw the museum as well as a Chapel they have made up to represent the chapels that were made by the prisoners of war. This one was outdoors, with just a shelter over the front part. It was weird to imagine the soldiers sitting outside in the hot steamy environment for their church services. Many would also have been weak with dysentery, malaria, even cholera as well as malnutrition.
I caught the bus back to the MRT station and on the bus were an Australian couple who had taken the flight after mine on Sunday night, which left at 10:30pm. They were considering changing to my flight to get out of London, but their flight ended up landing in Singapore before mine did! However, they all got evacuated in Heathrow because of a suspicious bag, so were lucky to have left on time!
After Changi I headed back into town and jumped on a bumboat ride around the Singapore river. We saw the Merlion statue and got a history of the city, which was interesting enough. Then I went for a wander and headed to this massive Chinese department store. It's always fun looking at what people in other countries buy. I keep seeing skin whitening cream sold in chemists etc. While people here seek the perfect tan, there's people in other countries looking for whitening cream!
I headed back to the hostel and was chatting to various people there before deciding I had better head for dinner before I left for the airport. When I told the receptionist I was dying for BBQ pork, she told me exactly where to go and get it. I found the place (it was so cheap- $3.50 singaporean, which is maybe $2.50AU!) and sat down at a table when a Chinese lady asked if I would mind if she sat there. I was quite happy and so she sat down and we tried to chat (her English was good, but her accent was a bit tricky to understand). She ended up offering me half her food to try everything she was eating. I refused, but she ended up putting it on my plate! It was delicious. I offered to buy her some more to replace what she had given me, but she wouldn't hear of it. Then she disappeared for a few minutes and came back with something else for me to try! In the end I had to leave, to head to the airport, but she was so friendly.
I made it to the airport with plenty of time for duty free shopping and got on the flight ok, which actually ended up landing early! Mum, Dad and Elissa were there to meet me and so we had a coffee and headed home. I managed to stay awake until I fell asleep on the couch in the afternoon (I had gotten no sleep on the plane). It was good to be back, but it's so cold here! The power went out Wednesday night and there were massive storms!
Anyway I'll try and put some more pictures today, but this will be my last post. I've had a lot of fun remembering things to add on here and writing it up and I hope it's been fun to read it! I hope to see you all soon, and anyone who's brave can sit through 1000+ photos!
Anneke
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Hello from Singapore
Well the good news is that I made it to Singapore, although it took a LONG time to get here- more about that later...
On Saturday I left Emma's house and moved my stuff into a youth hostel. Her parents were coming to visit for the weekend so I stayed one night in Picadilly. I was carrying my backpack etc out of the tube station when I heard all of these whistles. Turns out I had walked smack into the Pride parade (London's gay and lesbian festival). The atmosphere was great, with flags and whistles, floats and all sorts of costumes. A lot of people were waving Union Jack flags, with the blue changed to pink. So I stayed and watched that for a while before checking in to the hostel.
I was going to Cambridge in the afternoon to see Kara's sister and drop some stuff off to her, so I killed an hour or two wandering around Trafalger Square in the absolutely drenching rain. Everyone told me to go on the river when I went to Cambridge, but it didn't seem likely in the rain! I arrived in Cambridge and got picked up by Jan and her husband, and we headed back to her house. After a cup of tea we decided to make use of the halt in the rain and so I go taken on a tour of Cambridge. But the fun part was, everyone rides their bikes over there, so we went around Cambridge by bike. It was a bit scary at first, dodging double decker buses (they don't wear helmets in England) but in the end it was really fun to see all the sites and cycle on these old streets and footpaths, and having lived there for a while, Jan and Daff knew heaps about the place. There was a graduation going on at the time, so they told me about the ceremony involved. Because of the graduation many of the colleges were closed, but Jan had a staff card so we got to walk around and have a look at great buildings and bridges.
Following that, I headed back to London and wandered around for a while before heading to bed.
Sunday I checked out and returned some stuff to Emma's place in Wapping. I had to leave for the airport at 2:30 so I had a few hours to wander around. So I went and checked out Harrods, before having my final meal in London. You'll laugh, but my final meal in London was from Mark's and Spencers, which is a department/supermarket that has amazing food in lunch-sized portions that you can buy. For example, I had an Italian salad selection, which was 4 salads in a presealed package. The salads were bean salads, pesto salad, cous-cous etc.- really good. Then they have all these individual portions of desserts- creme caramel, chocolate mousse, raspberry jelly with raspberries in it etc- you can even choose from about 6 different fruit salads, all with different combinations of fruit in them.
It's been a big week in Britain- a new Prime Minister, 2 bombs that didn't go off, an attack on Glasgow airport, Wimbledon, July 1 bringing in anti-smoking laws in all enclosed spaces and a large concert held for Diana's death. It's funny though, because London itself seemed quite unconcerned- the tube was as crowded as ever, the newspapers mentioned the bombs etc but said little about the risk of future attacks. The only signs of tension I saw were policemen with guns in Picadilly, and the Age newspaper online which said the Aussie government had raised the DFAT warning about travel to Britain. Anyway, just to be sure I left for the airport with plenty of time.
I thought I'd had no problems with check-in as they are less concerned about weight limits on long haul flights. I thought my hand luggage may have been commented on as it was a little bit heavier than it should be- Heathrow ariport are REALLY fussy about hand luggage- you are only allowed one bag (not even a bag and a handbag), but the Heathrow staff don't usually weigh it. My bag was within the size limit, but not really within the weight limit. Anyway, I got chatting to the people in front of me (who said that they were travelling heaps now, because when you get over 70 people won't insure you, so they want to fit it in before then!) We noticed that one check-in guy was being more fussy about hand luggage then the others, so were hoping we wouldn't get him. When they got him, I thanked them because it would mean I wouldn't, but turns out every other desk was so slow that I did get him. Anyway so he looked at my hand luggage and asked me if it was heavy. I grinned and said no, but he weighed it and it was 3kg over the limit. He told me I really wasn't allowed that much. But then he said he'd let me take it on- as long as next time I packed a lighter bag!!! Got away with it again!!!
So I got on the plane and we set off for Singapore at 6:30 London time. At about 8 or 8:30 London time, flying over Europe, the flight attendent asked for doctors due to a medical emergency. Luckily there were some doctors on the plane and they went to help and that was it. So they served meals, and turned out the lights and we were all just going to sleep about 12:30/1am London time when the pilot came over the intercom and announced that due to a medical emergergency we would be diverting to Istanbul. At the time we were flying in between Russia and the Middle East and I guess Turkey would have been the best option. So we look on the TV screens as the plane suddenly change direction towards Istandbul. Then about 10 minutes later the TV screens had the destination listed as Dubai. The pilot came over the intercom againa nd said they had negotiated a better arrangement in Dubai! So the route map showed us suddenly change direction again- by this stage we had done a zig-zag.
Once we landed in Dubai, about 2am London time, we went to the cargo section of the airport and the paramedics came on and took the person off (I don't know what was wrong, they had an oxygen mask for them, but that was all I could see. It must have been a sudden deterioration over Russia to make them decide to land). So the pilot had told us that when we landed in Dubai they would refuel and we'd head off. Except what had happened once we'd landed was that they had to dump fuel to be within the landing limits at Dubai airport, and one of the fuel gauges had not closed properly. Turning off all the power several times they managed to fix it and finally 1.5 to 2 hours after we landed we set off again for Singapore. We'd had to stay seated the whole time, although by the end we were all standing in the aisles.
Dubai- Singapore is about 7 hours, and we'd already flown for 6 or 7 hours by the time we got there. So the 11 hour flight became a 14 hour flight! Although, I checked up after we left and we were so lucky we didn't go to Istanbul- the flight time from Istanbul-Singapore is roughly the same as London-Singapore. That would have exceeded the crew's legal limits so we would have been waiting there a fair bit longer I think!
Anyway, we made it to Singapore, 3.5 hours later than expected. Hopefully the sick person is recovering in hospital in Dubai, because that would have been an awful thing to happen on a flight.
So I made it to my hostel in Singapore, exhausted, had a shower and decided to go for a wander and have some dinner (I'm staying near Chinatown). So I entered one place to see the menu and was greeted by three people waving their hands in a 'no' gesture at me. One pointed to the wall on which there were two posters of condoms, with some Chinese writing, so I think I'd wandered into a brothel.
Anyway I managed to find some food and think I might head off to bed after such an exciting day!
I have one day in Singapore, then leave tomorrow night, arriving in Adelaide on Wednesday morning. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!!
Anneke
On Saturday I left Emma's house and moved my stuff into a youth hostel. Her parents were coming to visit for the weekend so I stayed one night in Picadilly. I was carrying my backpack etc out of the tube station when I heard all of these whistles. Turns out I had walked smack into the Pride parade (London's gay and lesbian festival). The atmosphere was great, with flags and whistles, floats and all sorts of costumes. A lot of people were waving Union Jack flags, with the blue changed to pink. So I stayed and watched that for a while before checking in to the hostel.
I was going to Cambridge in the afternoon to see Kara's sister and drop some stuff off to her, so I killed an hour or two wandering around Trafalger Square in the absolutely drenching rain. Everyone told me to go on the river when I went to Cambridge, but it didn't seem likely in the rain! I arrived in Cambridge and got picked up by Jan and her husband, and we headed back to her house. After a cup of tea we decided to make use of the halt in the rain and so I go taken on a tour of Cambridge. But the fun part was, everyone rides their bikes over there, so we went around Cambridge by bike. It was a bit scary at first, dodging double decker buses (they don't wear helmets in England) but in the end it was really fun to see all the sites and cycle on these old streets and footpaths, and having lived there for a while, Jan and Daff knew heaps about the place. There was a graduation going on at the time, so they told me about the ceremony involved. Because of the graduation many of the colleges were closed, but Jan had a staff card so we got to walk around and have a look at great buildings and bridges.
Following that, I headed back to London and wandered around for a while before heading to bed.
Sunday I checked out and returned some stuff to Emma's place in Wapping. I had to leave for the airport at 2:30 so I had a few hours to wander around. So I went and checked out Harrods, before having my final meal in London. You'll laugh, but my final meal in London was from Mark's and Spencers, which is a department/supermarket that has amazing food in lunch-sized portions that you can buy. For example, I had an Italian salad selection, which was 4 salads in a presealed package. The salads were bean salads, pesto salad, cous-cous etc.- really good. Then they have all these individual portions of desserts- creme caramel, chocolate mousse, raspberry jelly with raspberries in it etc- you can even choose from about 6 different fruit salads, all with different combinations of fruit in them.
It's been a big week in Britain- a new Prime Minister, 2 bombs that didn't go off, an attack on Glasgow airport, Wimbledon, July 1 bringing in anti-smoking laws in all enclosed spaces and a large concert held for Diana's death. It's funny though, because London itself seemed quite unconcerned- the tube was as crowded as ever, the newspapers mentioned the bombs etc but said little about the risk of future attacks. The only signs of tension I saw were policemen with guns in Picadilly, and the Age newspaper online which said the Aussie government had raised the DFAT warning about travel to Britain. Anyway, just to be sure I left for the airport with plenty of time.
I thought I'd had no problems with check-in as they are less concerned about weight limits on long haul flights. I thought my hand luggage may have been commented on as it was a little bit heavier than it should be- Heathrow ariport are REALLY fussy about hand luggage- you are only allowed one bag (not even a bag and a handbag), but the Heathrow staff don't usually weigh it. My bag was within the size limit, but not really within the weight limit. Anyway, I got chatting to the people in front of me (who said that they were travelling heaps now, because when you get over 70 people won't insure you, so they want to fit it in before then!) We noticed that one check-in guy was being more fussy about hand luggage then the others, so were hoping we wouldn't get him. When they got him, I thanked them because it would mean I wouldn't, but turns out every other desk was so slow that I did get him. Anyway so he looked at my hand luggage and asked me if it was heavy. I grinned and said no, but he weighed it and it was 3kg over the limit. He told me I really wasn't allowed that much. But then he said he'd let me take it on- as long as next time I packed a lighter bag!!! Got away with it again!!!
So I got on the plane and we set off for Singapore at 6:30 London time. At about 8 or 8:30 London time, flying over Europe, the flight attendent asked for doctors due to a medical emergency. Luckily there were some doctors on the plane and they went to help and that was it. So they served meals, and turned out the lights and we were all just going to sleep about 12:30/1am London time when the pilot came over the intercom and announced that due to a medical emergergency we would be diverting to Istanbul. At the time we were flying in between Russia and the Middle East and I guess Turkey would have been the best option. So we look on the TV screens as the plane suddenly change direction towards Istandbul. Then about 10 minutes later the TV screens had the destination listed as Dubai. The pilot came over the intercom againa nd said they had negotiated a better arrangement in Dubai! So the route map showed us suddenly change direction again- by this stage we had done a zig-zag.
Once we landed in Dubai, about 2am London time, we went to the cargo section of the airport and the paramedics came on and took the person off (I don't know what was wrong, they had an oxygen mask for them, but that was all I could see. It must have been a sudden deterioration over Russia to make them decide to land). So the pilot had told us that when we landed in Dubai they would refuel and we'd head off. Except what had happened once we'd landed was that they had to dump fuel to be within the landing limits at Dubai airport, and one of the fuel gauges had not closed properly. Turning off all the power several times they managed to fix it and finally 1.5 to 2 hours after we landed we set off again for Singapore. We'd had to stay seated the whole time, although by the end we were all standing in the aisles.
Dubai- Singapore is about 7 hours, and we'd already flown for 6 or 7 hours by the time we got there. So the 11 hour flight became a 14 hour flight! Although, I checked up after we left and we were so lucky we didn't go to Istanbul- the flight time from Istanbul-Singapore is roughly the same as London-Singapore. That would have exceeded the crew's legal limits so we would have been waiting there a fair bit longer I think!
Anyway, we made it to Singapore, 3.5 hours later than expected. Hopefully the sick person is recovering in hospital in Dubai, because that would have been an awful thing to happen on a flight.
So I made it to my hostel in Singapore, exhausted, had a shower and decided to go for a wander and have some dinner (I'm staying near Chinatown). So I entered one place to see the menu and was greeted by three people waving their hands in a 'no' gesture at me. One pointed to the wall on which there were two posters of condoms, with some Chinese writing, so I think I'd wandered into a brothel.
Anyway I managed to find some food and think I might head off to bed after such an exciting day!
I have one day in Singapore, then leave tomorrow night, arriving in Adelaide on Wednesday morning. Looking forward to seeing everyone again!!
Anneke
Saturday, June 30, 2007
More from London
Me again!
The day after We Will Rock You I had agreed to wait around at Emma's house for the man who was fixing her washing machine. She was letting me stay there while she was away on a training course, so i was quite happy to spend the morning sorting things out, hand washing clothes (I was getting desperate!) and pottering. I'd forgotten to ask Emma what was actually wrong with the washing machine, but luckily he worked it out and all was good.
After that i headed off to the London Eye, which is the giant ferris wheel like thing. It takes half an hour to do a full rotation and you get great views the whole way round. Security is a big thing here- people get oput of the carriage while it's rotating slowly, then two people come in with mirrors and check underneath the benches and up high to check for bombs etc. Then more people are loaded as it's still rotating. You also have to get frisked and get your bag searched before you board- they even have x-ray machines for some bags. This is normal- every museum etc i've been to has at least bag checks to get it.
Following the London Eye I headed out to meet a friend of Dad's- Annie McGuinness, who is a doctor in the emergency department University College Hospital in London. We had a drink with some of her trainees and then headed out to her house for dinner. Interestingly, of the 8 or so people we had drinks with, only 1 was from the UK (and even then, her Dad was an Aussie). This was quite normal for them.
We got to Annie's house about 7ish, having stopped at the supermarket on the way. Her son had friends over and so at one stage Annie thought we'd have 12 people for dinner (apparently this is normal also!). Her two sons are 16 and 18, and the 18 yr old has decided he wants to own or manage hotels, so he's moving to Switzerland in a few weeks to study there for 4 years! The other son and friends were shaving their heads when we arrived, and there were other people randomly wandering in and out (several boarders live in the house), as well as Annie's friend who turned up with the poshest English accent. It was quite chatotic. At about 10;30 we ended up eating dinner, a chicken curry like dish made from everything thrown in together (Annie and her 18 yr old both love cooking), and then Annie and the dog (a gorgeous, friendly boxer) walked me back to the station.
The following day I headed out to the Imperial War Museum, something I've wanted to visit for ages, having heard so much about it. I spent hours there! The museum was quite interactive, they had one section where they'd recreated a trench from WW1, complete with the smells, sounds and sights of battle. They also had a Blitz experience, in which you went into an air raid shelter and experienced being 'bombed' and then emerging to see the aftermath.
After the erm several hours I spent there I headed to Picadilly Circus to see if I could get tickets to Les Miserables- my all time favourite musical. There were several cheap ticket places, but the cheapest they could offer me was 45 pounds- bloody ridiculous!!! So, on a whim I went to the theatre itself and asked at the box office. The guy told me he had 40 and 50 pound tickets left, or 12.50 restricted view, but when I asked him he said restricted view meant you could only see 1/3 of the stage. I was just walking away when he asked me if I was a student and told me if IO came back an hour before the show started I could get a seat for 22.50 if there were any remaining. I came back and managed to get a dress circle ticket with an awesome view for this price (despite the fact tyhat 5 minutes earlier they'd sold a similar ticket for 40 or 50 pounds!). I met up with 3 other Aussies doing the same thing so we all went and had a bite to eat then returned to see the show. It was great cos the other 3 all loved Les Mis as much as I did, so we met up in the interval and discussed the characters and the actors end everything. It was so exciting to see Les Mis in London, especially with reduced price tickets!!! After the show, I caught the tube home, from Picadilly Circus station, with no idea of the drama to occur round the corner from there only a few hours later.
The next day I woke up and Emma told me there might be problems on the tube due to an unexploded bomb near Picadilly Circus. It turns out that a car bomb had been found at 1:30 or so in the morning outside a night club, about 2.5 hours after I was there....
It was really wet so I decided to go to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum (yes, I'm a nerd). The War Rooms had been sealed at the end of the Second World War and so it was not a replica- everything in there was as it was in the 1940s. The rooms were underground and were mainly used during the bombing of London. It was fantastic!
Following that, I went and did a bit of shopping in Marble Arch- Mum I went to Marks and Sparks and got those shirts for you, and then headed back to Emma's place to pack up. We then went out with some of her workmates last night to a farewell. No one seemed at all fased that I was there and it was fun to meet some locals (and non-locals, again there were a large number of people there from all over the world, Aussies, Turkish, Scottish, Irish, American, South African etc).
This morning I moved into a hostel for the night as Emma's parents are coming to stay with her, and I will set off to Cambridge soon to meet Kara's sister and have a look at Cambridge. The weather is awful though, wet as, so I don't know how much I'll get up to in Cambridge!
I fly out tomorrow night and will spend a night in Singapore, before arriving Wed morning in Adelaide. Check back later next week though, and I'll post up more pix.
Cya soon!
Anneke
The day after We Will Rock You I had agreed to wait around at Emma's house for the man who was fixing her washing machine. She was letting me stay there while she was away on a training course, so i was quite happy to spend the morning sorting things out, hand washing clothes (I was getting desperate!) and pottering. I'd forgotten to ask Emma what was actually wrong with the washing machine, but luckily he worked it out and all was good.
After that i headed off to the London Eye, which is the giant ferris wheel like thing. It takes half an hour to do a full rotation and you get great views the whole way round. Security is a big thing here- people get oput of the carriage while it's rotating slowly, then two people come in with mirrors and check underneath the benches and up high to check for bombs etc. Then more people are loaded as it's still rotating. You also have to get frisked and get your bag searched before you board- they even have x-ray machines for some bags. This is normal- every museum etc i've been to has at least bag checks to get it.
Following the London Eye I headed out to meet a friend of Dad's- Annie McGuinness, who is a doctor in the emergency department University College Hospital in London. We had a drink with some of her trainees and then headed out to her house for dinner. Interestingly, of the 8 or so people we had drinks with, only 1 was from the UK (and even then, her Dad was an Aussie). This was quite normal for them.
We got to Annie's house about 7ish, having stopped at the supermarket on the way. Her son had friends over and so at one stage Annie thought we'd have 12 people for dinner (apparently this is normal also!). Her two sons are 16 and 18, and the 18 yr old has decided he wants to own or manage hotels, so he's moving to Switzerland in a few weeks to study there for 4 years! The other son and friends were shaving their heads when we arrived, and there were other people randomly wandering in and out (several boarders live in the house), as well as Annie's friend who turned up with the poshest English accent. It was quite chatotic. At about 10;30 we ended up eating dinner, a chicken curry like dish made from everything thrown in together (Annie and her 18 yr old both love cooking), and then Annie and the dog (a gorgeous, friendly boxer) walked me back to the station.
The following day I headed out to the Imperial War Museum, something I've wanted to visit for ages, having heard so much about it. I spent hours there! The museum was quite interactive, they had one section where they'd recreated a trench from WW1, complete with the smells, sounds and sights of battle. They also had a Blitz experience, in which you went into an air raid shelter and experienced being 'bombed' and then emerging to see the aftermath.
After the erm several hours I spent there I headed to Picadilly Circus to see if I could get tickets to Les Miserables- my all time favourite musical. There were several cheap ticket places, but the cheapest they could offer me was 45 pounds- bloody ridiculous!!! So, on a whim I went to the theatre itself and asked at the box office. The guy told me he had 40 and 50 pound tickets left, or 12.50 restricted view, but when I asked him he said restricted view meant you could only see 1/3 of the stage. I was just walking away when he asked me if I was a student and told me if IO came back an hour before the show started I could get a seat for 22.50 if there were any remaining. I came back and managed to get a dress circle ticket with an awesome view for this price (despite the fact tyhat 5 minutes earlier they'd sold a similar ticket for 40 or 50 pounds!). I met up with 3 other Aussies doing the same thing so we all went and had a bite to eat then returned to see the show. It was great cos the other 3 all loved Les Mis as much as I did, so we met up in the interval and discussed the characters and the actors end everything. It was so exciting to see Les Mis in London, especially with reduced price tickets!!! After the show, I caught the tube home, from Picadilly Circus station, with no idea of the drama to occur round the corner from there only a few hours later.
The next day I woke up and Emma told me there might be problems on the tube due to an unexploded bomb near Picadilly Circus. It turns out that a car bomb had been found at 1:30 or so in the morning outside a night club, about 2.5 hours after I was there....
It was really wet so I decided to go to the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum (yes, I'm a nerd). The War Rooms had been sealed at the end of the Second World War and so it was not a replica- everything in there was as it was in the 1940s. The rooms were underground and were mainly used during the bombing of London. It was fantastic!
Following that, I went and did a bit of shopping in Marble Arch- Mum I went to Marks and Sparks and got those shirts for you, and then headed back to Emma's place to pack up. We then went out with some of her workmates last night to a farewell. No one seemed at all fased that I was there and it was fun to meet some locals (and non-locals, again there were a large number of people there from all over the world, Aussies, Turkish, Scottish, Irish, American, South African etc).
This morning I moved into a hostel for the night as Emma's parents are coming to stay with her, and I will set off to Cambridge soon to meet Kara's sister and have a look at Cambridge. The weather is awful though, wet as, so I don't know how much I'll get up to in Cambridge!
I fly out tomorrow night and will spend a night in Singapore, before arriving Wed morning in Adelaide. Check back later next week though, and I'll post up more pix.
Cya soon!
Anneke
Friday, June 29, 2007
me again!
Hello again to everyone.
I last left you in Amsterdam, so I'll continue from there. I woke up the next day and went for a wander around Amsterdam. My train to Eindhoven left at 3pm so I decided to do a boat cruise on the canals and have a look around. The boat cruise got me a bit more oriented with where I was. Let me just say, Amsterdam is quite a big city for its population. Probably because there are so many canals. I loved seeing the houseboats people live in on the river. The legal ones have mains water, gas, electricity etc, and they've all got pot plants everywhere and deck chairs and so on. The other thing about Holland is that bikes rule. There are even triple storey bike parking lots! The cyclists just seem to own the road, riding out whenever they want, and you have to dodge them.
I was left with 2 and half hours so I decided to walk to the Anne Frank House. I didn't imagine I'd have much time to see inside, but thought I'd just see the outside. It was a really nice walk tehre, I got to see heaps of the streets. The housing is all built up 5-8 stories, and there are no gaps between houses. Heaps of houses have windows or balconies overflowing with plants, so they look fantastic. When I got to the Anne Frank house the line was so long I couldn't go in but I had a look at the outside and then walked back to the hostel to pick up my stuff.
Catching the train through the countryside was a nice way to see it. There were lots of fields with cows and lots of canals. This seems to be what Holland is known for, and it's accurate! The train was a double-decker fast train, that only took an hour and a half. I'm so impressed- I think V-line could learn a few things from European trains! Although probably trains are used by more people over here.
1.5 hours after my train arrived, I met up with Ros, Boz and their friends for the start of hockey tour. Their team does short tours every year or so and it so happened that my visit over here coincided with their trip to a tournament in Holland. So I became an honorary member of their team for the weekend. The teams were all invited to stay in tents at the hockey club (a big tent was provided by the club) but the girls had booked a hotel just in case the weather was bad. Luckily they had booked- the tent assigned to our team would not have fit our group (I think there was about 13 of us). So the boys got the tent and we stayed in the hotel.
The Irish team (with one Aussie and one New Zealander living in Ireland!) was the only team that was not 'local' (ie Dutch or German) and therefore we had few interesting cultural experiences- the food (hamburgers with curry sauce, bread with ham and cheese for every meal), the music (3 full days of techno music. They would put any song to techno. I still can't get the techno version of 'If only i could turn back time' out of my head!), the language (obviously every instruction, annoucement or sign was in Dutch) and so on.
However, I had an awesome time, playing my first ever game of hockey, getting to know Ros's friends and the locals and experiencing my first hockey tour! The last night we went for a nice dinner and this was followed up by court (apparently a tour tradition) in which we all received fines for our various tour 'crimes'...
The final day in Holland, we packed up, had our last breakfast of bread, ham and cheese, and returned to Eindhoven. We wandered round for a while before I said goodbye to Ros and her mates who were flying back to Dublin. I was flying to London a bit later, with Emma, one of the girls from hockey tour who is living in London for 6 months. Saying goodbye was not something I was looking forward to, and to make it worse, we got a call about 10 minutes later to say they'd forgotten I'd put my bag in their locker. So we had to go get the bag and do it all over again.
Emma and I wandered round the shops for a bit longer and then got the bus to the airport, getting there just as the others were boarding. We'd been a bit worried about the weight of my bags ( I was flying Ryanair, and was 10kg over the limit). But, you'll be pleased to know I did it again and not a word was said about the weight of my bags!!! (To be fair, Emma's bags were a couple of kilo's heavier than they were on the way, and my hand luggage may have been a bit heavier than it should have been...)
So now I'm in London and it's been an eventful week here- Tony Blair's last day on Tuesday, a bomb defused today...
Emma had offered to let me stay in her place the night we arrived in London, as we didn't get into the city until 10ish. She also had to go to Cambridge for a few days for work and was quite happy for me to stay while she was away, so I've been staying in a very nice apartment in Wapping, near the Tower Bridge! It has a huge balcony and nice views, but it's a bit cold for balconies here at the moment.
Tuesday I decided to go on the bus around the city and work out where to go back to. I like doing this when I arrive somewhere as it gives a great overview of what's where. I also got cheap tickets to 'We Will Rock You', which I went to see later that night. London is insanely huge, and I wish i had more than a week here to explore everything. It's also very exciting, there's just some sort of buzz being here. Although, it is INSANELY expensive (I bought a weekly ticket for the underground which cost 23 pounds- maybe 60 Aussie dollars. But that's cheap. A daily ticket is something like 6 pounds, which is about 15 Aussie dollars.) Hostels, which cost maybe 20-30 dollars elsewhere, cost 20-30 POUNDS ( a pound is roughly $2.40).
The bus tour included a river cruise, so I headed out to Greenwich, although I didnt stay there very long. But I'm in love with the underground- it's just so easy to get around, well signposted and so quick- you rarely wait for a train! Connex should be listening....
'We will rock you' is a musical written by Queen. The story was pretty bad, very like 1984, but cornier. But the music was awesome- a live band and all the Queen hits. So much fun singing along at the end!
I'd better go for now, running out of time at the internet cafe. Hope you're not too cold, and looking forward to my return next week!!!!!
Anneke
I last left you in Amsterdam, so I'll continue from there. I woke up the next day and went for a wander around Amsterdam. My train to Eindhoven left at 3pm so I decided to do a boat cruise on the canals and have a look around. The boat cruise got me a bit more oriented with where I was. Let me just say, Amsterdam is quite a big city for its population. Probably because there are so many canals. I loved seeing the houseboats people live in on the river. The legal ones have mains water, gas, electricity etc, and they've all got pot plants everywhere and deck chairs and so on. The other thing about Holland is that bikes rule. There are even triple storey bike parking lots! The cyclists just seem to own the road, riding out whenever they want, and you have to dodge them.
I was left with 2 and half hours so I decided to walk to the Anne Frank House. I didn't imagine I'd have much time to see inside, but thought I'd just see the outside. It was a really nice walk tehre, I got to see heaps of the streets. The housing is all built up 5-8 stories, and there are no gaps between houses. Heaps of houses have windows or balconies overflowing with plants, so they look fantastic. When I got to the Anne Frank house the line was so long I couldn't go in but I had a look at the outside and then walked back to the hostel to pick up my stuff.
Catching the train through the countryside was a nice way to see it. There were lots of fields with cows and lots of canals. This seems to be what Holland is known for, and it's accurate! The train was a double-decker fast train, that only took an hour and a half. I'm so impressed- I think V-line could learn a few things from European trains! Although probably trains are used by more people over here.
1.5 hours after my train arrived, I met up with Ros, Boz and their friends for the start of hockey tour. Their team does short tours every year or so and it so happened that my visit over here coincided with their trip to a tournament in Holland. So I became an honorary member of their team for the weekend. The teams were all invited to stay in tents at the hockey club (a big tent was provided by the club) but the girls had booked a hotel just in case the weather was bad. Luckily they had booked- the tent assigned to our team would not have fit our group (I think there was about 13 of us). So the boys got the tent and we stayed in the hotel.
The Irish team (with one Aussie and one New Zealander living in Ireland!) was the only team that was not 'local' (ie Dutch or German) and therefore we had few interesting cultural experiences- the food (hamburgers with curry sauce, bread with ham and cheese for every meal), the music (3 full days of techno music. They would put any song to techno. I still can't get the techno version of 'If only i could turn back time' out of my head!), the language (obviously every instruction, annoucement or sign was in Dutch) and so on.
However, I had an awesome time, playing my first ever game of hockey, getting to know Ros's friends and the locals and experiencing my first hockey tour! The last night we went for a nice dinner and this was followed up by court (apparently a tour tradition) in which we all received fines for our various tour 'crimes'...
The final day in Holland, we packed up, had our last breakfast of bread, ham and cheese, and returned to Eindhoven. We wandered round for a while before I said goodbye to Ros and her mates who were flying back to Dublin. I was flying to London a bit later, with Emma, one of the girls from hockey tour who is living in London for 6 months. Saying goodbye was not something I was looking forward to, and to make it worse, we got a call about 10 minutes later to say they'd forgotten I'd put my bag in their locker. So we had to go get the bag and do it all over again.
Emma and I wandered round the shops for a bit longer and then got the bus to the airport, getting there just as the others were boarding. We'd been a bit worried about the weight of my bags ( I was flying Ryanair, and was 10kg over the limit). But, you'll be pleased to know I did it again and not a word was said about the weight of my bags!!! (To be fair, Emma's bags were a couple of kilo's heavier than they were on the way, and my hand luggage may have been a bit heavier than it should have been...)
So now I'm in London and it's been an eventful week here- Tony Blair's last day on Tuesday, a bomb defused today...
Emma had offered to let me stay in her place the night we arrived in London, as we didn't get into the city until 10ish. She also had to go to Cambridge for a few days for work and was quite happy for me to stay while she was away, so I've been staying in a very nice apartment in Wapping, near the Tower Bridge! It has a huge balcony and nice views, but it's a bit cold for balconies here at the moment.
Tuesday I decided to go on the bus around the city and work out where to go back to. I like doing this when I arrive somewhere as it gives a great overview of what's where. I also got cheap tickets to 'We Will Rock You', which I went to see later that night. London is insanely huge, and I wish i had more than a week here to explore everything. It's also very exciting, there's just some sort of buzz being here. Although, it is INSANELY expensive (I bought a weekly ticket for the underground which cost 23 pounds- maybe 60 Aussie dollars. But that's cheap. A daily ticket is something like 6 pounds, which is about 15 Aussie dollars.) Hostels, which cost maybe 20-30 dollars elsewhere, cost 20-30 POUNDS ( a pound is roughly $2.40).
The bus tour included a river cruise, so I headed out to Greenwich, although I didnt stay there very long. But I'm in love with the underground- it's just so easy to get around, well signposted and so quick- you rarely wait for a train! Connex should be listening....
'We will rock you' is a musical written by Queen. The story was pretty bad, very like 1984, but cornier. But the music was awesome- a live band and all the Queen hits. So much fun singing along at the end!
I'd better go for now, running out of time at the internet cafe. Hope you're not too cold, and looking forward to my return next week!!!!!
Anneke
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Greetings again!
I'm now in London and have so much to update!!
Last time I wrote from Ljubljana, pronounced Lub-liana- a j is pronounced like a y (Maddy, after a few mumbled attempts I finally learnt how to say it!)
Kat and I had decided to go to the caves the next day. As I was flying out at 6:30pm we figured we'd catch the 8:06 train out there and then come back about 1:40. We managed to catch the 8:06 train, but only just! So we were happy with ourselves that we'd have plenty of time to see the caves, which were an hour away. Slovenia is gorgeous and the scenery from the train is gorgeous. We ended up seeing plenty of it, because the train suddenly stoppped about 2 stations from the cave. People in uniform came up and tried to tell us something, but we don't speak Slovenian, so we had no idea what was going on. We asked an older man sitting near us and he tried to tell us in Slovenian. That didn't work, so he just said 'kaput'. Kat managed to communicate with someone in german and found out there was something wrong with the power supply. I don't want to giove the wrong impression- these were really nice trains, clean, comfortable and in good nick. Obviously it had just broken down and they were having trouble fixing it. Anyway, an hour later, someone else in uniform came and told us something and the lady who spoke german told us that we had to get on another train. Anyway we made it to the right station and went on a lovely walk through this little village to the caves.
We had been told to dress warmly, as the caves were 8 degrees. But it was 35 degrees that day, so we brought along clothes to put on top of our summer clothes. We looked quite a sight with trackies and jumpers on, with skirts and shiorts on as well. But lucky we did cos it was chilly and wet in the caves. However they are amazing! There are 20 km of caves, but we only saw about 5 km of them. Once you arrive, you get on this little train that takes you deep into the caves, where you do a walking tour for about 1km and then catch the train back along a different route. It was unbelievable. Just amazing. I've taken about 100 photos, but they don't do it justice. At one point we were 120 km below the ground. The caves have been forming for hundreds of thousands of years. The stalactites and stalagmites are enourmous, and they are formed drip by drip.
The caves were discovered in the late 1800's or early 1900's I think. At one stage they turned out all the lights and it was so dark. I can't imagine what the caves would have looked like by candle light. And apparently they were such a tourist destination even then that they were the first place in Slovenia to have electricity!
So after our visit to the caves we caught this little tourist train that drives on the roads back to the station (we didn't feel like walking up hill!). I asked the driver how much it would cost and he said 'Ah it's my first week. My first day. It's free this week because it's my first week!'. I think our little trip on it was one of the first because we drove around this small town with the driver blowing the whistle and the two ladies in the front laughing and waving to all their friends. Quite funny.
Luckily on the way back our train didn't stall and I went back, picked up my stuff and made it to the airport. I was a bit early but thought I'd just check in and wait with a book. Checking in, however, required a bit of charm as the lady told me my bags were 5 kg overweight. She offered to let me get away with being 3kg overweight, but I woul;d have to take out the extra 2 kg. I didn't want to pay, but had no idea what else to do. However, when I asked her how much it would be I mentioned I was from Australia and that there was just no way I could take it out as there was nothing I could do with it if I did. She agreed and let me through without paying.
Slovenia has just been accepted by the EU and gotten Euros, and as a result have to change their airport to fit regulations. As a result, they have got a very small departure gate area, with only 5 gates, while they make modifications. Unfortunately, they also had abotu 10 flights which were delayed for 1-2 hours (not really sure why, they said something to do with an air traffic control problem), so we were crammed into this tiny area, sitting on the chairs, the floor, everywhere, waiting for our flights. I was lucky, my flight was only delayed for an hour, but some flights were delayed a lot longer.
Anyway my flight left okay in the end, with a little bus taking us from the departure gate to the plane, which seated about 80 people and had little stairs that folded out from the doorway! However, Adria Air (the national airline of Slovenia) is actually a really good airline- it's a member of the star alliance. We got served snacks and drinks and the staff were great.
I arrived in Amsterdam about 9:00 and made it to the backpacker hostel I'd booked about 10 (it's still light at 10 here). When I initially booked this hostel, I'd accidentally booked it for Friday, and there were very few available for the Friday. So when I realised my mistake I changed it to Thursday, as I'd already paid a deposit and everything. However, I'd forgotten I'd booked a Christian youth hostel. I think most people know, I'm not that into religion, and in all of the cities in the world, it's quite funny that I'd managed to book a Christian youth hostel in Amsterdam of all places! Anyway it was fine, a decent place to stay and free pancakes for breakfast in the morning!
I think I will have to continue this later as I am going to see a musical (We Will Rock You) in the West End in aboutt 20 minutes. So will update tomorrow if I can,
Anneke
ps. A few people have mentioned it was hard to add comments, so I've changed it to make it easier now. I hope it's worked!
pps Dad- meeting Annie McGuinness tomorrow night.
I'm now in London and have so much to update!!
Last time I wrote from Ljubljana, pronounced Lub-liana- a j is pronounced like a y (Maddy, after a few mumbled attempts I finally learnt how to say it!)
Kat and I had decided to go to the caves the next day. As I was flying out at 6:30pm we figured we'd catch the 8:06 train out there and then come back about 1:40. We managed to catch the 8:06 train, but only just! So we were happy with ourselves that we'd have plenty of time to see the caves, which were an hour away. Slovenia is gorgeous and the scenery from the train is gorgeous. We ended up seeing plenty of it, because the train suddenly stoppped about 2 stations from the cave. People in uniform came up and tried to tell us something, but we don't speak Slovenian, so we had no idea what was going on. We asked an older man sitting near us and he tried to tell us in Slovenian. That didn't work, so he just said 'kaput'. Kat managed to communicate with someone in german and found out there was something wrong with the power supply. I don't want to giove the wrong impression- these were really nice trains, clean, comfortable and in good nick. Obviously it had just broken down and they were having trouble fixing it. Anyway, an hour later, someone else in uniform came and told us something and the lady who spoke german told us that we had to get on another train. Anyway we made it to the right station and went on a lovely walk through this little village to the caves.
We had been told to dress warmly, as the caves were 8 degrees. But it was 35 degrees that day, so we brought along clothes to put on top of our summer clothes. We looked quite a sight with trackies and jumpers on, with skirts and shiorts on as well. But lucky we did cos it was chilly and wet in the caves. However they are amazing! There are 20 km of caves, but we only saw about 5 km of them. Once you arrive, you get on this little train that takes you deep into the caves, where you do a walking tour for about 1km and then catch the train back along a different route. It was unbelievable. Just amazing. I've taken about 100 photos, but they don't do it justice. At one point we were 120 km below the ground. The caves have been forming for hundreds of thousands of years. The stalactites and stalagmites are enourmous, and they are formed drip by drip.
The caves were discovered in the late 1800's or early 1900's I think. At one stage they turned out all the lights and it was so dark. I can't imagine what the caves would have looked like by candle light. And apparently they were such a tourist destination even then that they were the first place in Slovenia to have electricity!
So after our visit to the caves we caught this little tourist train that drives on the roads back to the station (we didn't feel like walking up hill!). I asked the driver how much it would cost and he said 'Ah it's my first week. My first day. It's free this week because it's my first week!'. I think our little trip on it was one of the first because we drove around this small town with the driver blowing the whistle and the two ladies in the front laughing and waving to all their friends. Quite funny.
Luckily on the way back our train didn't stall and I went back, picked up my stuff and made it to the airport. I was a bit early but thought I'd just check in and wait with a book. Checking in, however, required a bit of charm as the lady told me my bags were 5 kg overweight. She offered to let me get away with being 3kg overweight, but I woul;d have to take out the extra 2 kg. I didn't want to pay, but had no idea what else to do. However, when I asked her how much it would be I mentioned I was from Australia and that there was just no way I could take it out as there was nothing I could do with it if I did. She agreed and let me through without paying.
Slovenia has just been accepted by the EU and gotten Euros, and as a result have to change their airport to fit regulations. As a result, they have got a very small departure gate area, with only 5 gates, while they make modifications. Unfortunately, they also had abotu 10 flights which were delayed for 1-2 hours (not really sure why, they said something to do with an air traffic control problem), so we were crammed into this tiny area, sitting on the chairs, the floor, everywhere, waiting for our flights. I was lucky, my flight was only delayed for an hour, but some flights were delayed a lot longer.
Anyway my flight left okay in the end, with a little bus taking us from the departure gate to the plane, which seated about 80 people and had little stairs that folded out from the doorway! However, Adria Air (the national airline of Slovenia) is actually a really good airline- it's a member of the star alliance. We got served snacks and drinks and the staff were great.
I arrived in Amsterdam about 9:00 and made it to the backpacker hostel I'd booked about 10 (it's still light at 10 here). When I initially booked this hostel, I'd accidentally booked it for Friday, and there were very few available for the Friday. So when I realised my mistake I changed it to Thursday, as I'd already paid a deposit and everything. However, I'd forgotten I'd booked a Christian youth hostel. I think most people know, I'm not that into religion, and in all of the cities in the world, it's quite funny that I'd managed to book a Christian youth hostel in Amsterdam of all places! Anyway it was fine, a decent place to stay and free pancakes for breakfast in the morning!
I think I will have to continue this later as I am going to see a musical (We Will Rock You) in the West End in aboutt 20 minutes. So will update tomorrow if I can,
Anneke
ps. A few people have mentioned it was hard to add comments, so I've changed it to make it easier now. I hope it's worked!
pps Dad- meeting Annie McGuinness tomorrow night.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
croatia
In a new hostel tonight, in Ljubljana. This hoatel is amazing- great showers, free breakfasts, lockable drawers under the beds and nice furniture.
Anyway, back to Croatia. We arrived in Zagreb about 8am and weren't quite sure what to expect. We stepped out of the station amazed at the architecture and the parks everywhere. We didn't kniow what to expect, we hadn't even looked at a guide book, didn't know a word of the language or even know the exchange rate. So our first task once we got off the train was to determine a rough exchange rate. We tried the bottle of coke test, but couldn't work out whether coke was cheaper here or not. So we found the exchange rate by looking at prices in euros and in the local currency, kuna. 1 dollar is 4 kuna and 1 euro is 7 kuna. Things are a bit cheaper in Croatia, we had dinner for about AU$7.
We trudged to the youth hostel we had booked, about 15 nminutes away, but it seemed a lot longer because our bags were bloody heavy! After dumping our bags we set off and explored the city. It's not a very big city, and there are heaps of old buildings and beautiful churches etc. The streets aren't very straight, so it was great fun wandering around and ending up in completely different areas of the city. A lot of street sellers there sell things (meat, fruit, cheese etc) wrapped in pastry, which we tried- they are delicious.We went to the 'famous' Orient Express bar and cafe, which was not quite what we thought it would be. It had the atmosphere of the train, but for some reason was full of pictures of Croatian tennis players... still not sure why.
Although we expected to be unable to chat to people in English, we forgot how hard it is when you don't speak the language. In shops we were reduced to pointing and holding up fingers to show how many of the item we wanted, choosing food was a bit of a lucky dip (which was fun in itself) and we got lost very easily. But that was all part of the fun being somewhere so foreign.
We wandered round, sat in the park for a while and had a look at a great archealogical museum which has findings from the Roman Empire. After that we went back to the hostel for a bit of a snooze and decided to set off for these markets we had heard about after that. Unfortunately, we couldn't find them, and when we made it to the tourist office, we found out they were closed, so decied to set off to the cemetery. After a long walk we got hopelessly lost and wandered around for an hour or so in the suburbs of Zagreb trying to find the cemetery. We never found it, it was so hot we decided to head back, but we got to see a great bit of the Croatian lifestyle, looking at the suburbs of Zagreb! There is a lot of graffiti around and there was an impression of a lack of wealth. Perhaps not poverty as such, but it was clear that people were not as well off as Germany, where we had just come from.
We came back to the hostel and decided to have a Croatian dinner, so we went to a restaurant and pointed at randon items on the menu. We ended up with calamari and chips! We also got a great salad, with beans and potato and onions.
We both decided we'd head back to the hostel for an early night, after little sleep the night before. However, we met three guys travelling together who were heading to Split (on the coast) on the night train (the Croatian coastline and islands are apparently gorgeous and most tourists go there). They were going for a drink before they left so we decided to join them and went to this beautiful bar. It's in this gorgeous park, with outside seating and was so nice on a hot night. The guys were from South Africa, England and Germany and we had a drink with them as they left to catch the train. It was a nice night.
This morning we decided to go to the archaeological park we heard about in the museum. This didn't end up happening, but we had just as much fun trying to find it! We walked to where we thought the bus left from, then got sent elsewhere, then back to where we started, chatting with varying levels of success to the locals as we went. Sitting on the cool steps at the train station, we decided to ask one more person before we gave up. We asked the next person who came and he was so excited that we spoke English he missed his train and spent an hour and a half chatting to us, teaching us Croatian and learning English (his was actually really good, so there wasn't much we could teach him). He told us he was born in 'that other place. but we don't talk about that' (Serbia) but was Croatian. It was interesting to hear from him about something I knew little about, but he said that Croatian and Serbian men get along better now than they used to. So in the end we didn't make it to the park, but said goodbye to him and jumped on the train to Ljubljana.
We didn't have our own carriage this time, but shared it with an elderly Bosnian, who spoke german to us. We had a great conversation, with Kat translating the whole time. It's a 14 hour journey by train from Bosnia to Croatia, but he worked in Germany and his (recently deceased) wife live in Bosnia and so he did the journey several times a year.
We arrive in Ljubljana at about 4 this afternoon and were immediately surprised at the wealth of the place compared to Zagreb. Where Zagreb had old buildings, they were often a bit dirty or had graffiti on them. The buildings here are sparkling, well maintained and the streets are wide and clean. The hostel is great and not far from town.
After a shower we teamed up with another Aussie girl and went for a wander round the city. The lifestyle here (in the summer) seems great- lots of outdoor cafes (Bear-all of them seem to have new decks). We found a square where what seemed to be a police orchestra was playing, crowded with outdoor tables. We walked up to the castle for a great view over the city and caught the funicular railway down the hill again. By this time we were hungry, so we stoppped for dinner at an outdoor pizzeria overlooking the river. There were heaps of Slovenians out enjoying the weather so it was a great night.
Must head off to bed soon. Tomorrow we have decided to catch the train to see some caves in the country. Then I am flying to Amsterdam tomorrow night, and meeting up with Ros and Boz in Den Bosch for their hockey tour to Holland, to which I have been invited! Will update when I can.
Anneke
PS: Dad, little sign of war in Zagreb. There was a museum about Croatian history, but I didn't make it there.
Anyway, back to Croatia. We arrived in Zagreb about 8am and weren't quite sure what to expect. We stepped out of the station amazed at the architecture and the parks everywhere. We didn't kniow what to expect, we hadn't even looked at a guide book, didn't know a word of the language or even know the exchange rate. So our first task once we got off the train was to determine a rough exchange rate. We tried the bottle of coke test, but couldn't work out whether coke was cheaper here or not. So we found the exchange rate by looking at prices in euros and in the local currency, kuna. 1 dollar is 4 kuna and 1 euro is 7 kuna. Things are a bit cheaper in Croatia, we had dinner for about AU$7.
We trudged to the youth hostel we had booked, about 15 nminutes away, but it seemed a lot longer because our bags were bloody heavy! After dumping our bags we set off and explored the city. It's not a very big city, and there are heaps of old buildings and beautiful churches etc. The streets aren't very straight, so it was great fun wandering around and ending up in completely different areas of the city. A lot of street sellers there sell things (meat, fruit, cheese etc) wrapped in pastry, which we tried- they are delicious.We went to the 'famous' Orient Express bar and cafe, which was not quite what we thought it would be. It had the atmosphere of the train, but for some reason was full of pictures of Croatian tennis players... still not sure why.
Although we expected to be unable to chat to people in English, we forgot how hard it is when you don't speak the language. In shops we were reduced to pointing and holding up fingers to show how many of the item we wanted, choosing food was a bit of a lucky dip (which was fun in itself) and we got lost very easily. But that was all part of the fun being somewhere so foreign.
We wandered round, sat in the park for a while and had a look at a great archealogical museum which has findings from the Roman Empire. After that we went back to the hostel for a bit of a snooze and decided to set off for these markets we had heard about after that. Unfortunately, we couldn't find them, and when we made it to the tourist office, we found out they were closed, so decied to set off to the cemetery. After a long walk we got hopelessly lost and wandered around for an hour or so in the suburbs of Zagreb trying to find the cemetery. We never found it, it was so hot we decided to head back, but we got to see a great bit of the Croatian lifestyle, looking at the suburbs of Zagreb! There is a lot of graffiti around and there was an impression of a lack of wealth. Perhaps not poverty as such, but it was clear that people were not as well off as Germany, where we had just come from.
We came back to the hostel and decided to have a Croatian dinner, so we went to a restaurant and pointed at randon items on the menu. We ended up with calamari and chips! We also got a great salad, with beans and potato and onions.
We both decided we'd head back to the hostel for an early night, after little sleep the night before. However, we met three guys travelling together who were heading to Split (on the coast) on the night train (the Croatian coastline and islands are apparently gorgeous and most tourists go there). They were going for a drink before they left so we decided to join them and went to this beautiful bar. It's in this gorgeous park, with outside seating and was so nice on a hot night. The guys were from South Africa, England and Germany and we had a drink with them as they left to catch the train. It was a nice night.
This morning we decided to go to the archaeological park we heard about in the museum. This didn't end up happening, but we had just as much fun trying to find it! We walked to where we thought the bus left from, then got sent elsewhere, then back to where we started, chatting with varying levels of success to the locals as we went. Sitting on the cool steps at the train station, we decided to ask one more person before we gave up. We asked the next person who came and he was so excited that we spoke English he missed his train and spent an hour and a half chatting to us, teaching us Croatian and learning English (his was actually really good, so there wasn't much we could teach him). He told us he was born in 'that other place. but we don't talk about that' (Serbia) but was Croatian. It was interesting to hear from him about something I knew little about, but he said that Croatian and Serbian men get along better now than they used to. So in the end we didn't make it to the park, but said goodbye to him and jumped on the train to Ljubljana.
We didn't have our own carriage this time, but shared it with an elderly Bosnian, who spoke german to us. We had a great conversation, with Kat translating the whole time. It's a 14 hour journey by train from Bosnia to Croatia, but he worked in Germany and his (recently deceased) wife live in Bosnia and so he did the journey several times a year.
We arrive in Ljubljana at about 4 this afternoon and were immediately surprised at the wealth of the place compared to Zagreb. Where Zagreb had old buildings, they were often a bit dirty or had graffiti on them. The buildings here are sparkling, well maintained and the streets are wide and clean. The hostel is great and not far from town.
After a shower we teamed up with another Aussie girl and went for a wander round the city. The lifestyle here (in the summer) seems great- lots of outdoor cafes (Bear-all of them seem to have new decks). We found a square where what seemed to be a police orchestra was playing, crowded with outdoor tables. We walked up to the castle for a great view over the city and caught the funicular railway down the hill again. By this time we were hungry, so we stoppped for dinner at an outdoor pizzeria overlooking the river. There were heaps of Slovenians out enjoying the weather so it was a great night.
Must head off to bed soon. Tomorrow we have decided to catch the train to see some caves in the country. Then I am flying to Amsterdam tomorrow night, and meeting up with Ros and Boz in Den Bosch for their hockey tour to Holland, to which I have been invited! Will update when I can.
Anneke
PS: Dad, little sign of war in Zagreb. There was a museum about Croatian history, but I didn't make it there.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Croatia etc.
Hello all,
I am currently writing this in our lovely youth hostel in Croatia! It's 32 degrees at the moment, the nicest weather I've had so far.
It's been a full few days since last Thursday. On Friday I arranged to go on a walking tour around the city, with information about the 1916 rising. Of course, the tour was cancelled due to the torrential rain! However the guide was nice enough to chat to us inside the oub anyway, for no charge, which was an infomative session. We sat in the downstairs pub which had a great atmosphere, quite a small pub and we were the only occupants.
Coming out of the pub I saw a whole load of cyclists dressed in boater hats riding around the city en masse. This was my first reminder about Bloomsday, to be celebrated the following day (more about that later).
Friday afternoon was spent keeping out of the rain. I visited the James Joyce centre, to prepare for Bloomsday and returned to a bookshop Ros had shown me the night before (the night before was late night shopping night, so Ros and I went to the bookshop and then to Bewley's Cafe for dinner. Yum!). The bookshop had two levels- neqw books and second hand books, so as usual I asked in the second hand section if they had any books on prams for Mum. The conversation with the eldery salesman was hilarious:
A: My mum collects prams...
Salesman: pams?
A: Prams. Like baby carriages.
S: that's a strange thing to collect...
A: Yes...so I was wondering if you had any books about prams?
S: Collects prams...you must need a lot of room for that...do you live in the country (as mentioned Dublin real estate is expensive)
A: No, I'm from Australia
S: Ah you must have lots of room then.
Sorry Mum, I finally managed to ascertain they didn't have any books on prams!
Once I made it out of the shop (and let me just say now I've had to post a few things home) I headed back to Ros and Boz's house and we decided to go to the local after dinner. After a few drinks (yes, for Melbourne people, Crowded House was sung), we all went home and retired to bed.
Saturday Ros and I woke up early and began our day with a brisk swim in the sea, at the Forty Foot bathing hole, a traditional bloomsday celebration. Let me say now, when it's 14 degrees its bloody freezing swimming in the sea! Bloomsday for those who don't know, celebrates a famous Irish author, James Joyce, and his book Ulysses, which follows the life of a man, Leopold Bloom, on June 16 1904. People like to have readings, dress up and act out events from the book. We also went to a nearby tower for readings and then had a bloomsday lunch at a nearby pub in Dalkey, an area featured in the book. It was a great day, and the refreshing swim such a healthy start...
Saturday afternoon was a quiet afternoon after our busy morning and previous night. Then on Sunday we went for a nice drive through the Wicklow Mountains to an old estate house and a shop called Avoca, which sold Irish homewares.
Monday I packed up and then caught an afternoon flight to Munich. I was quite sad to leave Dublin, but I know I'll be back as soon as I can! I then met up with Kat Green in Munich. We decided to catch the overnight train to Croatia, so we had about 3 hours in Munich station to kill. However, we caught the train to the Munich town centre and had a wonderful evening in the famous Hoffbrauhaus. We shared a 1 litre beer and I had a traditional German dinner of sausages, a pretzel and mustard. Good craic! They had the band going, singing a few songs I remembered from the Weinstadl (restaurant where I work in the summer). After a quick look around Munich (which is gorgeous) we headed off to the train.
We considered getting a sleeping car on the train, but as even the basic ticket was 88 Euro, decided against it (Kat has a eurail pass, so she didn't have to get a ticket). However, we were glad we didn't because we got a whole compartment of 6 seats to ourselves (like the compartments on the Hogwarts train). Kat had one side, and I had the other and we had better beds than had we got a sleeper (which we would have had to share). Anytime people got on the train, they decided not to disturb our sleep and so sat in another compartment. It also meant our luggage was really secure, as we could hide the important stuff on us, and someone would have had to climb over us to get at everything else.
So we passed on the train through Austria, Slovenia and into Croatia. The only thing to disturb our sleep were the frequent railway employees who would burst in to check tickets. We also had a few armed policemen burst in demanding to see our passports, which is a scary thing to wake up to (don't worry they only wanted to stamp them!)
We arrive at 8 this morning, having had about 4-5 hours sleep and trundled our way to the youth hostel. After a cool drink and a shower we set about exploring Croatia. That may have to be left for another day, as there's a queue for the computer and we're off to arrange dinner.
So hope it's not too cold over there, best wishes to everyone and Happy Bloomsday!
Anneke
I am currently writing this in our lovely youth hostel in Croatia! It's 32 degrees at the moment, the nicest weather I've had so far.
It's been a full few days since last Thursday. On Friday I arranged to go on a walking tour around the city, with information about the 1916 rising. Of course, the tour was cancelled due to the torrential rain! However the guide was nice enough to chat to us inside the oub anyway, for no charge, which was an infomative session. We sat in the downstairs pub which had a great atmosphere, quite a small pub and we were the only occupants.
Coming out of the pub I saw a whole load of cyclists dressed in boater hats riding around the city en masse. This was my first reminder about Bloomsday, to be celebrated the following day (more about that later).
Friday afternoon was spent keeping out of the rain. I visited the James Joyce centre, to prepare for Bloomsday and returned to a bookshop Ros had shown me the night before (the night before was late night shopping night, so Ros and I went to the bookshop and then to Bewley's Cafe for dinner. Yum!). The bookshop had two levels- neqw books and second hand books, so as usual I asked in the second hand section if they had any books on prams for Mum. The conversation with the eldery salesman was hilarious:
A: My mum collects prams...
Salesman: pams?
A: Prams. Like baby carriages.
S: that's a strange thing to collect...
A: Yes...so I was wondering if you had any books about prams?
S: Collects prams...you must need a lot of room for that...do you live in the country (as mentioned Dublin real estate is expensive)
A: No, I'm from Australia
S: Ah you must have lots of room then.
Sorry Mum, I finally managed to ascertain they didn't have any books on prams!
Once I made it out of the shop (and let me just say now I've had to post a few things home) I headed back to Ros and Boz's house and we decided to go to the local after dinner. After a few drinks (yes, for Melbourne people, Crowded House was sung), we all went home and retired to bed.
Saturday Ros and I woke up early and began our day with a brisk swim in the sea, at the Forty Foot bathing hole, a traditional bloomsday celebration. Let me say now, when it's 14 degrees its bloody freezing swimming in the sea! Bloomsday for those who don't know, celebrates a famous Irish author, James Joyce, and his book Ulysses, which follows the life of a man, Leopold Bloom, on June 16 1904. People like to have readings, dress up and act out events from the book. We also went to a nearby tower for readings and then had a bloomsday lunch at a nearby pub in Dalkey, an area featured in the book. It was a great day, and the refreshing swim such a healthy start...
Saturday afternoon was a quiet afternoon after our busy morning and previous night. Then on Sunday we went for a nice drive through the Wicklow Mountains to an old estate house and a shop called Avoca, which sold Irish homewares.
Monday I packed up and then caught an afternoon flight to Munich. I was quite sad to leave Dublin, but I know I'll be back as soon as I can! I then met up with Kat Green in Munich. We decided to catch the overnight train to Croatia, so we had about 3 hours in Munich station to kill. However, we caught the train to the Munich town centre and had a wonderful evening in the famous Hoffbrauhaus. We shared a 1 litre beer and I had a traditional German dinner of sausages, a pretzel and mustard. Good craic! They had the band going, singing a few songs I remembered from the Weinstadl (restaurant where I work in the summer). After a quick look around Munich (which is gorgeous) we headed off to the train.
We considered getting a sleeping car on the train, but as even the basic ticket was 88 Euro, decided against it (Kat has a eurail pass, so she didn't have to get a ticket). However, we were glad we didn't because we got a whole compartment of 6 seats to ourselves (like the compartments on the Hogwarts train). Kat had one side, and I had the other and we had better beds than had we got a sleeper (which we would have had to share). Anytime people got on the train, they decided not to disturb our sleep and so sat in another compartment. It also meant our luggage was really secure, as we could hide the important stuff on us, and someone would have had to climb over us to get at everything else.
So we passed on the train through Austria, Slovenia and into Croatia. The only thing to disturb our sleep were the frequent railway employees who would burst in to check tickets. We also had a few armed policemen burst in demanding to see our passports, which is a scary thing to wake up to (don't worry they only wanted to stamp them!)
We arrive at 8 this morning, having had about 4-5 hours sleep and trundled our way to the youth hostel. After a cool drink and a shower we set about exploring Croatia. That may have to be left for another day, as there's a queue for the computer and we're off to arrange dinner.
So hope it's not too cold over there, best wishes to everyone and Happy Bloomsday!
Anneke
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