Blogs from Europe - page 12019

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Well, it has been a whirlwind month since I arrived in London. I had a few restless days recovering from jetlag and getting re-accustomed to Western quality of life. It was a bit of a culture shock but one I was certainly ready for; it didn't last long. I found myself appreciating the little things such as crossing the street using traffic lights and not having the smell of sewage lingering in the background. On Rich's first day off work (he took three weeks off), we began exploring. We covered some of the typical London sites - Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, Piccadilly Circus, a ride on the London Eye, etc. However interesting those were, I must admit I was extremely taken by the little things - the number of big ... read more

The Baso boys set off on their second foreign adventure of 2007 - this time to Berlin. After the successes of Valencia we felt like veterans of this international long weekend scene, and despite the flight being at an eye-wateringly early 6.30a.m., we all managed to get on the road, parked up at the airport and checked in with the minimum of fuss. The short flight soon passed and Captain Kangaroo bounced us to the gate. Unlike Valencia, we were able to depart the aircraft pretty sharpish and were soon marvelling at the wonderous efficiency of German public transport as we took the underground into town towards the “Heart of Gold” hostel which would be our home for the next 3 days. Our early arrival meant that we couldn’t check in, so we dumped our ... read more

22 April After sufficiently recovering from my cold, I moved on to the small city of Algeciras in anticipation of taking the ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Morocco. There wasn't much to do in Algeciras, but it provided a convenient day-trip to Gibraltar. The Rock of Gibraltar must be one of the most famous geological sights in the world, and walking right past it (as you walk across the military and civilian airport runway) is rather surreal. It only gets worse once you get into the place, where everything is hyper-stereotypical British with old-fashioned street signs, telephone boxes and buildings. Despite the staunch British appearance, Gibraltarans consider themselves to be residents of, what else?, Gibraltar and in a recent referendum designed by the Spanish and British governments designed to facilitate future administrative control, ... read more

(april 19 2007 after arriving from Bremen) It was almost midnight when Phydie and I walked around the St. Pauli's district of Hamburg. That road is packed with clubs and is the center of the nightlife in the city but the other attractions that you can find there are the sex shops. It is actually also called in german 'die sündige Meile' (The Sinful Mile in english).. We walked until we reached the harbour, which was totally desserted (I guess everyone is at the clubs in St. Pauli), and stayed for only half an hour and then went home because I was already feeling the need of a rest. (april 20 2007) The next day, we roamed around Hamburg. We checked out the harbour again and well there were some ships, boats and ferries. I also ... read more