http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/elisairvin/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from elisairvin en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:16:21 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:16:21 +0000 well that is the end of our travels to this point. i'd just like to thank all of you who have taken the time to read through all the crap that i have put down on paper and a big thank you to alex who not sure if you noticed but he wrote a few of the entries for me.i'd also like to send a huge thankyou to all the people who have made the trip so memorable and special. a trip with memories to la http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/Acton/blog-324408.html On the 5th of September we said farewell to Damo as he left for his long bus ride back to London as this was also the day that our Scottish adventure was to begin. We had our rental car delivered to us at Agnesrsquos place filled out the paperwork under my name now that Irsquom 25 and all and all responsible and stuff now... Anyway Alex and I said goodbye to Agnes and drove to fuel up th http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-323791.html The trip up to Glasgow was a long one to say the least it involved us catching a train from Ipswich to London followed by a bus that took 10 hrs up to Glasgow. We arrived in Glasgow at around 10pm and jumped straight into a cab to get to Agnesrsquo house. Agnes is a distant relative of Alex and Lach though marriage three of us had met her before on her last visit to Australia. We were given http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/Scotland/blog-323781.html To fill in the gaps between our top deck extravaganza and making out way up to Scotland herersquos what happened...The 15th Aug was my birthday and well we didn't have up to too much due to us all not feeling so good and well just being worn out we made our way to the movie to see the dart knight and well that was pretty much it... the next day it was on a train up to our home away from home http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-323598.html Day 24Leaving Amsterdam a little seedy we travelled to Brugge in Belgium. We only spent a very short time in Brugge enough to have our last lunch together. The crosschannel ferry took us back to Dover and then on to London we arrived quite late around 8 ish. We said goodbye to all our new friends and exchanged emails and phone numbers as we jumped into a cab back to East Action where we spen http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/blog-314751.html AmsterdamDay 22On the way to Amsterdam we stopped off at a cheese and clog factory. Obviously they showed us how they make their cheese and handmade clogs. Alex and bought some very yummy cheese which we made our way though when me got back to England.Once in Amsterdam we checked into out last hostel and went on a walking tour of the city. We were taken through the main part of town through to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-314749.html Berlin.Day 21We had to wake up early today to pack the coach and leave for a long drive to Berlin with many of the group feeling under the weather due to the night before. On the way we stopped off in Dresden in Germany a place that was flattened during WW2 but had been rebuilt using the pieces of the original buildings that had been destroyed during the Blitz. Dresdenrsquos buildings theref http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Berlin/Berlin/blog-314748.html Czech Republic day 19.We left Auschwitz on a rather sombre and humbling note arriving in Prague later that day. The plans for the evening were a meal followed by a drive into town followed by a walking tour. The meal was quite good however we missed the drive in and the walking tour due to a mix up with the rooms for the boys. Lach Damo and Alex and a few of the other guys from the tour had bee http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-314747.html Poland to the Czech RepublicAuschwitz and BirkenauDay 19This was a morning that was not one I could prepare myself for. All I can say is that it was a moving moment at we walked around the concentration camps. The sheer size of them blew me away and the history was shocking to say the least. We were taken on a guided tour of the sight which took around two hours. I think that pictures speak loud http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Auschwitz/blog-321706.html Poland Day 17We started off the afternoon in Krakow with a walk down the main street it was full of jewellery shops among others so inspired me on another shopping expo the following day. The dinner they served up to us was once again schnitzel and soup before we retired to our room to chat to family and check emails as others watches Schindlers list to prepare for their themed tour in the morni http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-314745.html Budapest Day 15 via Bratislava SlovakiaOur next country to add to the list was the former communist Slovakia we stopped off in Bratislava. We did a walking tour from the highest point of the town to the main shopping district from the top of the mountain it was quite clear to see the communist influences in the architecture or lack of it. The communist flats are well nicknamed concrete jungles http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-314744.html Venice. Day 13.We left Rome heading for Venice via the fair city of Verona home to the Shakespeare masterpiece Romeo and Juliet. We walked around town saw another arena dating back to Roman times and the balcony which inspired Shakespeare to write Romeo and Juliet then returned to the Coach and left for Venice. The first night at the campsite was relatively uneventful and many of us had an e http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Veneto/Venice/blog-316446.html Vienna day 11It was yet another long day on the bus driving to Vienna from Venice it was worth it purely for the hostel. We stayed in a new hostel operated by Wombats the rooms were fantastic as was the bar which we received drink vouchers for on arrival that didnrsquot harm either... we were taken to a restaurant just around the corner from the hostel for an Austrian dinner. They served u http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Austria/Vienna-State/Vienna/blog-314743.html Day 9 part 2 romeWe arrived in Rome among all of its ancient splendour and magnificence on a walking tour that was to last 5 hours. The first stop was the Spanish steps moving on to the House of the Capuchin Monks. An amazing building that is richly decorated with the remains of 900 monks who it turns out invented the Cappuccino Coffee. A macabre sight to say the least. Leaving there we moved http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-314742.html Day 8We departed Nice and the French Rivera via a perfumery called Fragonard where they make most of the perfumes of the world. Then it was a medium drive to Pisa home to the famous construction blunder of the leaning tower and several other buildings constructed during Pisarsquos golden age. Apart from these sights there is little else to see in the town so we left after an hour. Damien hap http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Tuscany/Florence/blog-314739.html French Rivera Nice and Monaco Days 56Our time spent in Nice was quiet and relaxing as we arrived on a Saturday night. The first night we were taken around the corner for a group dinner which was quite tasty. We all stopped off at the bottle shop on the way back to the hotel we all somehow ended up in alex and my room this was a very small room but one of the only ones with a fridge being t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Monaco/Monte-Carlo/blog-314737.html Switzerland days 34We took the long drive from Paris thru some very beautiful countryside to Lauterbrunnen a tiny village at the base of the famous Jungfrau and Schilthorn mountains in Switzerland we passed many beautiful lakes and the mountains were the biggest Irsquod ever seen. The campsite was located in a small valley with a waterfall at the door step and the snow capped mountains off http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Lauterbrunnen/blog-307153.html i've decided to separate these blogs into counties so they aren't in a large boring block well not as large as they could be so hope you enjoy reading though our experiences and adventures.Day 1we were up at some ungodly hour to get to the globe trotter hostel to meet the people we would be spending the next 24 days with this proved to be a little more difficult than we thought as the trains w http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-307152.html just a little note to say a massive thankyou to everyone who sent me msgs in all forms for my birthday. the day of my birthday was i guess as expected a little sad i hadn't felt home sick like that before not to mention at i was actually sick being that it was the day after we returned from 24 day drinkfest around europe. to wake to a happy birthday from damo lach and alex was a nice start as http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-313175.html after pamplona we were all very happy to lie low for a few days. we had a rough start the the day as we were up early to catch the 7am bus but once we were all packed up and ready to go we got to reception to pick up our passports to find that the 24hr reception was no longer after calming down alex and a few hours we jumped in a cab and headed into town to pick up the hire car. after much disc http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Basque-Country/San-Sebastian/blog-300218.html