In the fairytale surrounds of southern Germany, castles dotting the landscape amidst rolling hillsides of vineyards pointing towards the languidly looping Rhine, two beautiful maidens Cherida and Amy, met their kind and generous friend Dirk. A tour of the lovely town of Bingen was had, with spectacular sunset views and a scary dark tower (turm) where the tears of many a long tressed maiden could still be heard hitting the concrete floor. The trio shared a traditional German supper of bread, meat and cheese and told tales of past travels, enjoying the challenge of conversing in each others lang [View Full Entry]

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Funny times had in the Czech Republic........... mainly owing to the great British guys we met there- Joe and Andy.. who were staying in the same hostel room as us and were continuing on to Cesky Krumlov at the same time. We arrived in Prague after a quick flight from Hungary.. we thought this would mean a nice and easy arrival. We were wrong. We got in too late for normal buses and so had to wait for night ones, an hour later in the freezing cold one came, and then there were a couple of changes on to dodgy [View Full Entry]

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I always knew I had it in me, and have had plenty of oppurtunity to practise on our travels (Hyde Park, Mirabell Gardens, Schonnbrunn Palace...), but in Budapest I have perfected the art of sitting and watching the world go by. Often I have a book with me, other times, its just my I-pod, but there is never a shortage of people to watch. I sat in a Square, and some Budapestian locals, maybe on their lunch break, dressed in dark suits (one crushed velvet!), sunnies on, ties slung over their shoulders stroll into the square with half a dozen [View Full Entry]

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My favourite things! Europe » Austria By BlackManx May 1st 2007 Amy Hall My Favourite Austrian Things To the tune of 'My Favourite Things' from the Sound of Music Snow on the mountains and breath taking views, Liesl slipped off the bench coz she wore the wrong shoes, Sound of Music Tour with a bus driver who sings..... These are a few of my favourite Austrian things. Sun shining d [View Full Entry]

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Champions One of the funniest and most memorable times in Poland was when Marios parents picked us up from the train station (we were so relieved to see them coz we didnt know where we were and werent sure theyd got the message). They took us to their house and fed us and then on the way to Marios apartment (before stopping so Marios Dad could by us beer!!! and sausages) we were listening to the radio and good old Queen came on. Marios parents dont speak English, and obviously we dont speak Polish, but 'We are the Champions' is [View Full Entry]

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The famous words uttered by JFk on June 26, 1963 on the steps of Berlin city hall in a show of support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after the Soviet-supported Communist state of East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier to prevent movement between East and West. Unfortunately for him the words when translated mean "I am a donut". As our tour guide said, bad year for him,, what with the assasination and all! It was a great tour, very informative but not boring, and took us through lots of history and all the [View Full Entry]

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Amsterdam is an overwhelming, amazing city, with so much happening at once that its hard to catch a breath. The saying 'anything goes' certainly applies here, and it results in an absolute bizarre mix of cuilture and people. This was certainly higlighted when we did Randy Roys Red Light Tour- along with a mother and her two -20 year old sons, a young couple and a photographer from Canada. At one stage of the tour I was standing in the doorway of a child care centre, looking at a big old church, right nothing too funny about that. BUT! if [View Full Entry]

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Well here I am in London having flown from Japan via Moscow. The differences are amazing and endless, and its taken a little while to get my head around what country im in, what im doing here and what im doin next. Weve been lucky enough to stay with an old school friend, Bec and she and her boyfriend Shaun have shown us a grand old time in London Town. Weve done a lot of walking and exploring, doing all the touristy things of course, including Harrods, Buckingham Palace, all the circuses and Tate Modern, Big Ben, London Eye. Weve had [View Full Entry]

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Miscellany- a collection containing a variety of sorts of things (Modern Language Association (MLA): "miscellany." WordNet® 2.1. Princeton University. 23 Mar. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/miscellany>. ) This blog is an example of just that- it is a collection containing snippets of all the adventures I have had in the last little while, to get you up to date before I leave the Land of the Rising Sun and head to the land of the Whingeing Pom (that's what its known as right??) As an aside, I would like to know the origin of the name th [View Full Entry]

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Thanks to Global Warming, it is safe to say that the Japanese Winter is over, and Spring has indeed Sprung. This is not ideal for professional snowboarders (like myself) as there isnt much snow left around the place, but for flower enthusiasts all over Japan, christmas has come early. The cherry blossom is even starting, and if one has to give up snow, its nice to have cherry blossom to look at instead. Blooming Brilliant!! [View Full Entry]

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