Blogs from Europe - page 13051

Well, other than a flight delay, aeroplane re-routing, bad cold, lost luggage and 35 degree temperature when I'm dressed for -5, my trip from Vancouver to Birmingham went off without a hitch. But here I am at my Aunty's house in Coventry, luggage found and trying to get over the jet lag. My aunty has also kindly taken me around to see some of the Midlands while I'm here - a quick trip around the old and new parts of Coventry, Warwick Castle (supposeldy one of the best in England - it's okay, but a bit kitsch for my liking) and a drive through the Cotswolds which really is just as quaint and twee as the photos make out. Went into London on Thursday to sort out bank accounts and fun stuff like that. The bus ... read more

I made the mistake of watching the morning TV news. The weather report promised more record high temperatures all over Europe. Luckily for us Scotland's record high temps would only reach the upper 80's instead of the near 100's further South. Oddly enough as we started loading up on to the bus it was actually a bit nippy outside. Today's itinerary sounded like another winner to me: We would head to the touristy town of Pitlochry, then to Sterling and Sterling Castle, followed by a drive along the Firth of Forth on in to Edinburgh. I was aware of Sterling Castle's role in the whole Braveheart/William Wallace/Robert Bruce era and it was eager to see this area of Scotland which also hosted the battles of Sterling Bridge, Falkirk and Bannockburn. Before the movie Braveheart came out ... read more

We had a great night's sleep and breakfast across the street was, as they say here, brilliant. We headed out to Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness after breakfast and checkout. We have no hopes of seeing Nessie...honestly, if all the guys on Nessie tours with fish finders can't find her we're not going to waste our time lol. However, Loch Ness is breathtaking and Urquhart, even half in ruins, is gorgeous. Ali and I, once again, go our separate ways in Urquhart but the way it's set up we can almost always see each other. I got a little bit artistic and tried taking some interesting photos here. I'm not a good photographer but it's hard to take a "bad" picture here. Scotland is so incredibly beautiful. The morning starts out overcast but ... read more

Our next challenge was trying to find our place of accommodation in Venezia. Not an easy task as the actual hotel had a different name to what we had been told. After half a day of trying to find it, we finally got rooms with airconditioning - an unusual encounter for us, but one that was greatly appreciated as temperatures were hitting 37C. Anybody walking into the room found me reclined, naked, in front of the airconditioner. I didn’t care about the shrinkage factor, the cooler temperatures were worth the humiliation! Venice itself was gooooorgeous and unique with its waterways and canals, most of which I could get on and to via the vaporettas (water taxis). There were literally tens of thousands of tourists flocking every attraction, the first place for us it has been really ... read more

Did some shopping as I was in dire need for some shorts as mine got wrecked in Bruges after sitting on some dubious substance. Found some for 7.50 euro which was quite the bargain so I was rapped. It has been so hot , about 10 degrees above average and eight people have died in France as a result. It is ridiculous that people have died of heat exhaustion in this era. That arvo Cam and I went to the Anne Frank house. It was amazing to see the building the lived in for two years. Ive never seen stairs so steep in my life. It was just a mind boggling experience, and Im glad Id read the book before hand, even all those years ago. Afterwards there was an exhibit on controversial human rights issues ... read more