http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Delek Delek/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Delek Delek en-us Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:40:17 UTC Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:40:17 UTC Having endured a nonexistent English summer in London I was thankful that my old travel buddy Davies and I had booked some Mediterranean sun as an insurance policy. I was looking forward to some proper summer weatherWhen choosing a summer getaway I was looking for somewhere warm and relaxing with enough to do that could be covered in a long weekend and somewhere ideally that was a new coun http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Malta/Malta/blog-333327.html Before I left New Zealand I had promised my British flatmate Alex that I would pay him a visit in Cambridge while I was over here and his birthday party presented the perfect opportunity to do exactly that.I haven't seen much of England so this weekend I was looking forward to seeing what England was like outside London.The train ride was just under an hour from King's Cross so it was nice an http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Cambridgeshire/Cambridge/blog-333317.html Welcome back to the TravelBlog Yes I am still aliveIt has been six months since my last trip six months since I arrived in London aboard the Eurostar from Paris.So it seems only fair that I should let you know what I have been up to since the last time you heard from me very brieflyWithin two weeks of arriving in London I had managed to find myself an awesome job with Orange it was a thr http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Germany/Rhineland-Palatinate/Sankt-Goar/blog-298843.html After travelling 35066km to 55 cities across 17 countries in 129 days to say that this has been an incredible journey and an amazing experience would obviously be an understatement.Once I had arrived at my cousin's place in London NW6 I have to admit that relief was the overwhelming emotion as perhaps rather unsurprisingly I was all travelled out. In saying that though with the English http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Kilburn/blog-246718.html So this was it Paris our final destination the icing on the cake a glorious finale to 4 months of travelling 4 of the most fun and exciting months of our lives. Well that was the script anyway.When I was lucky enough to land tickets to the Rugby World Cup Final it was all set up now the All Blacks just had to do their bit and make the final. They of course choked against the French a http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/-le-de-France/Paris/blog-239154.html ...are tiny Gimme the big juicy New Zealand ones any day. Although if anything they're slightly more flavoursome though not enough to justify their size I always enjoy coming to Belgium especially for the food scrumptious chocolate tasty mussels crisp fries with mayonnaise delicious waffles and fantastic beer is always readily available. Davies commented on how Belgium is lucky t http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/Brussels-Capital-Region/Brussels/blog-230904.html The first time I was in Berlin last year for the football World Cup I had to say that I wasn't that impressed. The city seemed too big we didn't seem to have the best time there and it seemed to lack the party atmosphere present at all the other World Cup host cities.I didn't really spend quality time there though it was mainly just a stop to watch football matches. Therefore this time wit http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-229388.html Everyone we had talked to about Prague all used the same word when describing it beautiful. So we were to find out for ourselves whether Prague would indeed live up to all the hype.So it was October 6th 2007 does everyone remember this date If your memory needs some jogging then read on...As a final gesture to Andreas for letting us stay Davies decided to cook up a hot breakfast for every http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Czech-Republic/North/Prague/blog-222373.html The train I was supposed to catch from Strasbourg was full bugger. Luckily though there were a series of trains I could catch without a reservation that left half an hour later. So after almost missing my connection to Karlsruhe because I was on the wrong platform in the tiny town of Appenweier there were finally no dramas from Karlsruhe to Munich as I received a text from Andreas the guy http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Germany/Bavaria/Munich/blog-215687.html My journey from Tampere to London was an arduous one.The flight was around 2 hours and 40 minutes long. After half an hour going through immigration things would be so much easier with an EU passport and baggage pick up the bus from London Stansted Airport to Victoria Station was 70 minutes and then after waiting 20 minutes for the night bus it took a further 25 minutes to get to Nicola's fla http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/France/Alsace/Strasbourg/blog-214512.html Having managed to work out Tallinn's tram and trolleybus system we managed to get back to the waterfront to catch our 12.00pm hydrafoil back to Finland. However out of the 4 terminals at waterfront none of them were for the Linda Line. Where the hell is it It's 11.30am.The girl at the info desk in ferry terminal A then tells us that the Linda Line terminal leaves from the Linnahall 700m http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Pirkanmaa/Tampere/blog-214289.html Everyone we had talked to about Estonia had told us only good things about it namely things are cheap the chicks are hot and the nightlife great an undiscovered diamond in the rough. So needless to say we were keenly anticipating what may be waiting for us in Tallinn.Our ferry to Tallinn was going to be something a bit different we were going to take a hydrafoil which is basically a tank http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Estonia/Tallinn/blog-214089.html Have you heard the new album from Architecture In Helsinki It's fantastic. Will defiinitely have to get a copy when I get back to London.Anyway the actual architecture in Helsinki is not bad either. A lot of baroque as tends to be the case in Scandinavia as well as many neoclassical buildings. In a nutshell it's part Scandinavian part Russian but definitively Finnish The same thing http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Finland/Uusimaa/Helsinki/blog-213989.html A country famous for blondes and Ikea as well as spawning some great bands such as The Hives Dungen and The Radio Dept OK so I admit they were also responsible for ABBA Europe and Roxette as well I was looking forward to a place full of beautiful people and a creative liberal and progressive culture.The train from Copenhagen to Stockholm was possibly the most scenic of the entire trip. Pi http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Sweden/Stockholm-County/Stockholm/blog-210452.html Denmark famous for Hans Christian Andersen as being the setting of Hamlet and err....emo band The Rasmus. Ok we'll forgive them for that...maybe.We were not originally planning to go to Denmark or indeed even Scandinavia at all so our last minute decision to travel to the first of four new countries we have never been to before left myself and Davies with a strong sense of anticipation.W http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Denmark/Region-Hovedstaden/Copenhagen/blog-209199.html Our wild time in Amsterdam over it was off to Germany a country I have fond memories of from last year.By the sounds of it however last summer's World Cup was a once off as a couple of Germans I have met have said that the scenes of fun pride and happiness last year were unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated anytime soon. People still talk about last summer said one German I met in La http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Germany/District-of-Hamburg/blog-204862.html WARNING This blog entry contains nudity sex scenes drug use and other phallic material. Discretion and for some of you lot parental guidance is advised. Seriously this is my most controversial entry yet I really hope noone gets offended...Las Vegas may be known as Sin City but this is a place just as deserving of the moniker. Famous for it's liberal attitude towards prosititutes an http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-201138.html After a relatively good night's sleep it was an fairly early start for our mammoth train journey from Barcelona to Annecy.We had to run to make the train again. Davies then asked meListen can you do me a favour and just get up 15 minutes earlier I'm sick of running for these bloody trains.Haha. He obviously doesn't know me well enough.I did feel bad and of course he has a point so I w http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Belgium/West-Flanders/Brugge/blog-201131.html After one day's rest from the madness of La Tomatina it was time for more madness in Barcelona.Unfortunately my bed was directly beneath the fan in our dorm and because it was so hot I decided to leave it on. The next morning my throat was sore.A real melting pot of many cultures Barcelona has an avantgarde bohemian freakshow vibe and the place is alive in every sense of the word.Nowhere http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-201120.html With 38000 people crammed into a small town all chucking tomatoes at each other this has to be the biggest foodfight known to man.In any case it was madness.But before I detail the big fight you're probably all wondering if and how I made my train after my huge night in Madrid rightHaving got home from Kapital at 6.30am or so I was up a mere 2 12 hours later to catch my 9.25am train to Bar http://www.travelblog.org//Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-201116.html