Halloween is big in the US but particularly in San Francicso. A few days before there were queues at the costume shops because in San Fran, Halloween is for the big kids not the little trick or treaters. The Castro area is famous for having the most outrageous costumes and used to host a huge party where all the streets were closed down. However, something big went down there a few years ago so now although the party goers still turn out, the streets are left open and the police presence is ramped up. Lyn and I went out to Castro [View Full Entry]

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New York was cold and wet and guess what? Vancouver was pretty much the same. Perhaps not as cold and not as wet but we didn't get to see much sun New York was freezing cold and we got quite a lot of rain and guess what? Same story in Vancouver. I think the weather in a country you are travelling too has a lot to do with your enjoyment of the place itself. I am sure if we had visited Vancouver in bright sunshine we would have a different perception of it. Anyway, thankfully I bought myself a cheap coat [View Full Entry]

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Or is it? Not for me I'm afraid. Everyone had said to me how I would love New York - maybe they don't know me as well as they think they do. We arrived late afternoon after an uneventful flight and caught a bus then metro to the centre. Our hostel, the Big Apple was easy to find as it was only minutes away from Times Square. Once again, we dumped the bags and headed out. It was just as cold as Toronto and I was really starting to feel it. Already I didn't like the feeling of being hemmed in [View Full Entry]

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Au Revoir Paris and hello Toronto. Bit of a shock to arrive there as it was freezing cold - we had some cold and rain in Paris but this was bone chilling cold. First impresions were that it was very like Australia - streets set out in grid patterns, big wide roads but there were a lot more skyscrapers that what we had been used to. We were only in Toronto for two days. On our arrival day we did the usual thing of dropping our bags off at the hostel then heading out with map in hand to discover what [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Luxembourg late afternoon - got off the train then onto a bus to the hostel which we knew was sistuated near the casemates. We got off the bus and had to a long walk down a steep hill to the hostel. Long walk down meant long walk back up when we left and lots more times in between!! The hostel was really nice and very new. There was a bar and a restaurant so we had ourselves a beer - they had a fruity one which was almost like Kriek but it wasnt Kriek - and they also [View Full Entry]

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Beige Belgium Or perhaps I should say, grey Belgium. We flew out of Pisa airport on a cheap Ryan air flight - had to make sure the baggage was under 15kg - mine was 14.7kg - phew!! We flew into Charlesroi in Brussels, caught the bus into Brussels then the train straight to Bruges. We had tried to get accommodation in Brussels and Ghent for 3 nights - they had availability for 1st and 3rd night but not the second so we ended up at an HI hostel in Bruges. The hostel was about 15 minute walk from the city centre [View Full Entry]

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Finally, we reach Cinque Terre We had been going to Cinque Terre in August but were unable to book any accommodation so we decided to do Spain and Portugal and tag CT onto the end of the trip. Had to return to Barcelona to pick up our flight to Pisa. Was raining cats and dogs in Pisa but we still got off the bus to take the obligatory photos - not that flash but at least we got them. Headed to Manorola where we were booked into the Cinque Terre Hostel - we had heard reports that it had lots of [View Full Entry]

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Which country are we in? It must be Portugal. Ginja is the cherry liqueur that everyone has to try - there is a shop near one of the squares in Lisbon where they serve it up in disposable plastic cups - always lottsa people hanging around there and it is not a bad drop. Pastis de Nata are the famous custard tarts which we tried in a few places in Portugal but the best ones were purported to be in Belem - we tried them and to me they were just the same as the others we had tried but that [View Full Entry]

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San Sebastian! Yes, you all thought it was on the plain didn't you. We left Pamplona in bright sunshine and halfway to San Seb it was aleady looking grey and by the time we arrived it was raining. We had heard a few stories about the rain there but we have been complaining of the heat for a while so a bit of rain was quite a godsend really. Well, it might have been had we not been walking the streets with out backpacks looking for a hostel that did not seem to exist. We gave up in the end and [View Full Entry]

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So we 'did' Rome and I managed to contract a cold whilst there so, as we were both running on very low batteries it was decided that we would find somehwere quiet and just do nada - nothing - niente - rien du tout. We thought we had found the ideal spot at Lago Trasimeno at La Casa Sul Lago but unfortunately they had no beds available. We did however find a nice litte farmhouse in Umbria - just outside Perugia which of course was my old stomping ground back in 1993. I went to Universita per Stranieri for 3 months [View Full Entry]

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