On Saturday we revisited Central Park in the morning, and later in the afternoon caught a ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island which passes close to the Statue of Liberty. Although the ferry doesn’t stop at the statue itself we got spectacular views of the statue and the city (you can’t go up it anymore for security reasons so we weren’t too worried about going there). We spent our final day in New York (my birthday :o)) relaxing and walking around Madison Square Park. It was a clear day with blue skies, but was also really cold, so we sat in [View Full Entry]

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On Thanksgiving day we went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade - along with the rest of the population of New York! We couldn’t have asked for better weather for the day which was unseasonally warm. The parade was over 3 hours long and filled with American celebrities, giant balloons, floats, and marching bands and put the New Zealand christmas parades to shame! After the parade we headed back to Bryant Park for some hot drinks, and watched the skating. Later in the day, we went to the Rockefeller centre, and watched the iceskaters under the famous Rockefeller christmas tree then [View Full Entry]

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The final stop on our trip was New York. We said farewell to the UK early on the 21st of November, after a panic getting to the airport when our organised taxi didn’t turn up. We still made it on time though, and we had a relaxing flight to JFK. After manoeuvring the confusing subway with our luggage, we arrived at our hotel in Greenwich Village (lower central Manhattan) about lunchtime. Keen to see the city, we spent the afternoon looking around Macy’s (the biggest store in the world), Times Square, the Empire State building, and the Chrysler building. In the [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Edinburgh and our jobs this week, we took a quick trip to Dublin. We arrived at Thursday lunch time, and after wandering along O'Connell street, we enjoyed our first pints of Guinness with lunch. We later met up with my friend Claire, and then we all met for dinner with Alex - our flatmate in Christchurch last year. We had a nice (but pricey!) dinner in the touristy "Temple Bar" area. On Friday we wandered around the lively Grafton Street, where we had coffee and scones in an oriental cafe, and watched the buskers. Later we looked around the [View Full Entry]

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After working this week, we decided to take a weekend trip to the north of Scotland. It was a wet and misty day as we drove through the highlands, with stops at Loch Lubnaig and Loch Tulla along the way. The landscape of the highlands is very bleak, with rugged country side and steep hills, with Lochs dispersed in between. We made our way to the small town of Fort William, where we decided to stop for the night and hope for weather the next day. We found a quaint B&B, and in the evening, we faced the rain and spent [View Full Entry]

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Two weekends ago we took a drive out to Stirling, and went to Stirling Castle - the residence of the Stewart Kings and Queens of Scotland in the 16th century. The castle sits high on Castle Hill, with three of its sides having sheer drops down the cliff, which made it easily defendable. From the top of the castle there are 360 degree views of all of Stirling, including the King's Knot, Wallace national monument and the River Forth. Last weekend we headed to Perth for an afternoon, and did a bit of shopping. It ended up being a long day [View Full Entry]

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After staying in London for a week recovering from Contiki, we decided we would leave London and head to Scotland for a change of scenery. After buying a car, we drove up to Edinburgh, with a stop over night in Loughborough along the way to visit one of Brandt's friends. It was a nice drive into Scotland, and the hilly landscape and greenery reminded us of New Zealand - a far call from London! When we arrived we stayed at a hostel for the first week, while we found somewhere to live. Edinburgh is quite a small place (500,000 people), and [View Full Entry]

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Rome was the final destination on our Contiki tour. We travelled by coach from Florence, and arrived in Rome early evening. We headed into the city for a night tour of the Piazza Del Popolo, Via del Corso, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. The next day was our last day on Contiki, and a busy day trying to see all the sights in Rome. We started with a guided tour of “Imperial Rome” - the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Even by todays standards the Colosseum is a very large building - in its heyday it must [View Full Entry]

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Early this morning we got back on our coach, and left Nice for Italy. The weather was great, and after driving through the France - Italian border, we took a train to the Cinque Terre region known as the Italian Riveria. This beautifully rugged stretch of coastline hosts 5 small villages which are accessible only by boat. The combination of these tiny picturesque villages, the clear blue waters and dazzling sunshine made this one of the highlights of our trip - we could have happily stayed for weeks! After having lunch overlooking the beach and having a quick swim at the [View Full Entry]

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After visiting Pisa, we drove to Florence, and arrived in the city at about lunch time. We checked into the hotel, and then headed out to get lunch and have our first look around the beautiful city. Our hotel was very centrally located, very close to the Duomo cathedral - the dome on the cathedral was completed in 1436 and was the first dome erected in Europe (Duomo means The Dome). The inside of the famous dome was hand painted by Brunelleschi. The outside of the cathedral is made of white, pink and green marble (no part of it is painted), [View Full Entry]

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