15 Aug - centrally located hotel in the heart of old town Istanbul. We're here for 3 days and 2 whole nights - woohoo!!! First time since we've left that we haven't been in a different country each day. A chance to get some laundry done and take breath. We have an al fresco breakfast on top of the hotel roof. There are stunning views of the Istanbul skyline of Mosques, minarets, Turkish flags and the mighty Bosphorus river. In the afternoon some of us go on the orientation walk round the city which covers a small, local mosque and bazaar. [View Full Entry]

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10 Aug - as we'd been warned pre-departure, due to changes to train times we don't arrive in Ljubljana until mid evening and, as we leave early next morning, we only manage to see what seems to be a beautiful, picturesque Central European city by night. A quick orientation tour of grand buildings, church and triple bridge then a yummy group meal al fresco. Venison (!), cranberry sauce and a local cheese speciality thing washed down with an extremely quaffable, local red wine. Peter the Leader escorts Ali, Di and I back to the hotel after our second carafe, otherwise we [View Full Entry]

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9 Aug - we wake up in Italia. Explore trip - London to Aqaba, Aug08 has officially started. We are staying just outside Venice in a wee place called Mestre. We check in then head to central Venice by early afternoon. It's great to finally see Venice, can't believe I haven't been before. It really is such a unique city with the canals. Looks just as you imagine it (gondoliers, beautiful buildings, some with doors which appear to open straight onto the water) only better...and surprisingly odour free despite being a hot, summer's day. Ali and I take the vaparetto (water [View Full Entry]

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8 Aug - We arrive at Gare du Nord in Paris late afternoon then take a few metros to Bercy to catch the 1900 overnight train to Venice. Pur-chase some supplies ie beer (!) for the journey then start to get to know the tour group. First off, my cabin buddies... Alison (Ali) who is Scottish, early 40's and works for S&N and is my room buddy for the whole trip. She currently lives in York but spends a lot of time in Edinburgh so we have lots to talk about. Georgia who is Canadian (with Greek relatives) who is just [View Full Entry]

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OK, time to backtrack and start writing this blog. 4 weeks after leaving Scotland I am now able to start updating this. Thanks to Gel, my ghost blogger, for posting some photos of my departure which can be seen on the D-Day blog. Cheers mate :) Well, I got up at 6.45am, hoisted on my backpack, rucksack and (designer!) handbag and staggered down the stairs at Eyre Place to my taxi up to the station. It was a very emotional farewell from Platform 11 at Waverley Station. A leaving party posse had formed of Mum, Dad, Geraldine, Jane and Mudit (cheers [View Full Entry]

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D-Day. Here are a couple of photos taken at Waverley Station, Edinburgh, this morning [View Full Entry]

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Final trip to Haddington and Fringe 08 about to start....soooooo much to do. Keep watchin... [View Full Entry]

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