http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/B_and_R/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from B_and_R en-us Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:58:41 +0000 Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:58:41 +0000 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 doesnrsquot stop at the statue itself we got spectacular views of the statue and the city you canrsquot go up it anymore for security reasons so we werenrsquot too worried about going there.We spent o http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-223668.html On Thanksgiving day we went to the Macyrsquos Thanksgiving day parade along with the rest of the population of New York We couldnrsquot 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 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-223661.html 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 didnrsquot 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. Kee http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/Manhattan/blog-223655.html 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. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/blog-220437.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Loch-Ness/blog-215322.html 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 nat http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Stirling/blog-212920.html 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 LondonWhen http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/Edinburgh/blog-211703.html 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 ldquoImpe http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-206373.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-206366.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Liguria/Cinque-Terre/blog-206319.html We really enjoyed our short stopover in southern France and found that it really is ldquonice in Nicerdquo. We arrived in Nice on Thursday afternoon after a lunch stop at AixenProvence. From the coach we had our first view of the beautiful pebble beach with its crystal blue waters and throngs of people. We didnrsquot have time to stop then though as we needed to check into our hotel and http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d--Azur/Nice/blog-206315.html Yesterday was another long day of travel to Avignon. We had a lunch stop along the way at the medieval city of Carcassone which was pretty cool. The city walls are still in place and the interior is lined with narrow streets full of cafes restaurants and souvenir shops. We didnrsquot have much time to explore but we had a quick look around then ate lunch in a sunny little tree lined square befo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/blog-204278.html An early start to a long day Today our tour group headed off to Barcelona by coach approximately an 8 hour drive. Not long into the journey the skies turned dark and the rain started. It was amazing just how much water there was. Not long after it started hailing It was so loud hitting the roof of the coach and quite an amazing sight to see in Madrid.We stopped for morning tea at a small tru http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-204299.html On Saturday we flew to Madrid the second greenest city in the world to begin our Contiki tour. We arrived at about 4pm checked into our hotel and enjoyed the heat about 30 degrees until we met up with the group for the first time at 6pm that evening. The first part of the night involved doing administration things for the tour but at about 8.30 we headed for our first dinner as a group. We http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-204294.html We spent two nights in Leeuwarden staying with Brandt's cousin Femke her partner and their cats. It was nice to stay in a proper house again after living in our small flat in London and then travelling the past few weeks. Yesterday we did a lot of driving around the small Friesland villages recommended by Femke. We drove into Gaastmeer for a coffee and then onto Heeg where we had a good lunch http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Frisia/Leeuwarden/blog-204291.html Today we visited my great auntie Joop at her home just outside Utrecht. We had a good chat and Rochelle played hostess making us coffee soup and lunch then more coffee. Joop told us some of our family history and told us how to find the house where she and my Opa grandfather grew up.After lunch we left Joop and set off to find the house. We found the road without too much trouble and think we f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/Province-of-Utrecht/Utrecht/blog-200916.html Finding our hotel was a nightmare. We must have missed a turn on the ring road coming into Brussels and from then on our written instructions on how to get to the hotel no longer helped. The street the hotel was located on didn't exist on our map which was decidedly unfortunate but we eventually made it to the hotel about 9.30pm and checked in pretty tired from all the searching.The following mo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/blog-200911.html We had a relaxing time in Amsterdam. It was wet and cold the day we arrived and we turned up at our bed and breakfast early hoping we could drop off our luggage. The guy running the place was really helpful and gave us directions to the areas of Amsterdam popular with locals rather than tourists meaning we avoided the crowds and had some excellent food. We weaved our way through the cyclists http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-200547.html We finished our jobs left our flat in London last week and began our European adventure. First stop ParisWe arrived at around 1pm by Eurostar having left London early on Sunday morning with Eddie my workmate from Tait who arrived in London on Saturday. We were a bit worried for a while as the tube was unexpectectedly suspended on our way to Waterloo and we were informed that all undergroun http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-199343.html This weekend we headed off to Amsterdam on a 2 night boat trip. When booking the tickets we didn't realise how far the departure point for the boat was from London so we had an extra trip up to Newcastle to catch the boat. We left London by train on Thursday morning and arrived in Newcastle about 3 12 hours later. Our train had been delayed but we still managed to hop straight on one of the bu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-194126.html