A few photos of Budapest and Bucharest...It's only taken me an hour and a half to upload these - probably a new record! Enjoy, xo [View Full Entry]

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From Zakopane in Poland I headed across to the Slovak side of the Tatra mountains and stayed in the very small town of Zdiar, just on the edge of the mountains. I spent a couple of days there doing some more (much more leisurely) walking. As with the Polish side I managed to avoid all forms of snakes, bears and avalanches, which was a good outcome. I stayed in a really nice hostel there with some great people who won me over upon arrival with chocolate pancakes. Also tried some Slovak food which seems to consist of a lot of meat [View Full Entry]

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From Prague I got an overnight bus to Warsaw, which took an hour and a half longer than expected, due to a large number of stops and some mysterious bus problems which required us to change buses at 3 o'clock in the morning. I'm pretty sure the second bus had bigger problems that the first. All very interesting when you can't speak a word of Polish! I have since picked up a few words, but it hasn't helped it much. Polish people seem very unhelpful, to the point of being quite rude if you don't speak any Polish. Except for people [View Full Entry]

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Yo peeps, Just a quick update because I'm being lazy this morning (as opposed to every other day of my life). Since Joey's departure, nearly a month ago, I've spent a bit of time in England, Wales, Prague and am currently in Poland for a week or so. In England I was very cultured and attended such places as the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern Museum, Buckingham Palace, St.Paul's Cathedral and the West End to see Les Miserables. After that I went to Oxford for a few days of wandering around the Universities and canals. I also [View Full Entry]

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While I'm on a roll, I might as well get up to date. From Paris we got the train to Bruges, which is a beautiful place (thanks Fi for that tip). We spent a day and a half there doing all things Belgian. Or at least drinking beer and eating waffles. Around this consumption of Belgian finery we did find time to see the sights. We did a canal tour, walked around town, wandered through the two main squares Markt and Burg, headed to one of the town's churches to see Michelangelo's statue 'Madonna and Child' (clearly not the real Madonna [View Full Entry]

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In Paris we continued our musical tour in style. The first night we were there we saw a very energetic performance of gospel music in the oldest church in Paris. The following night we went to the beautiful Saint Chapelle for a Vivaldi performance. Over five fantastic days in Paris we visited the following places: Notre Dame, the Louvre (couldn't match Stevie's six hours, but four hours wasn't a bad effort on our part), the Eiffel Tower (stunning views over Paris! Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse and we only made it up to the second level), Arc [View Full Entry]

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Yikes, I think I may now be seven weeks behind in this travel blog, so there could be a fair bit of catching up to do. That Joey is a bad influence on me! My sincerest apologies to those who have had to find other ways to procrastinate. Well, after finishing our South American trip with a week in Brazil we flew to London, where I spent four days before meeting up with mother dearest. Highlights include: - A couple of nights with Claire Bridge which, of course, involved some traditional Team Bridge dancing. - Spending a day with Elise and [View Full Entry]

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Next up we got the ferry to Belfast with the Neesons and stayed with them for a few nights. Joey and I had a great time doing a city tour of Belfast and seeing all the historical sights. We walked the entire length of both the Falls Road (Catholic area) and Shankill Road (Protestant area) to see all the murals. We also went to a photographic exhibition of the last 40 years in Northern Ireland which had some very graphic and moving pictures. While with the Neesons we also spent a night at their holiday house in the picturesque town of [View Full Entry]

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The Rules of South America/Points of Interest Road Rules - If a road isn't dirt/mud/gravel and doesn't have at least a 200m sheer drop it isn't a proper road. - Always overtake on blind corners. - Always implement a departure/entry tax on any location possible. - Nothing ever runs on time - there is always some delay/someone to pick up/something to drop off/an unexpected river crossing. - Red lights mean go. Do not use seatbelts. - Always walk down the middle of the road, why bother with the footpath? - A bus is never full, you can always squeeze another person [View Full Entry]

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Next stop - after a very slack border crossing in which we didn't even have our bags checked - was back into Argentina. We got the bus to Salta for a couple of days relaxing and some slightly (for one person in particular, not mentioning any names) wild nights. After Renee had sobered up long enough to get on another bus, we had a 20 hour trip to Iguazu, where we met up with Rod. In Iguazu we encountered torrential rain, but the soaking we received was well worth it to see the spectacular Iguazu falls, the fifth largest waterfalls in [View Full Entry]

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