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Published: April 25th 2010
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Hola!
I made it to Spain, Madrid. It took a while - 9 hours on the train from Berlin to Paris where i was kind of stuck again because all the trains were booked out - so I was in Paris for 2 nights and then I took a bus from Paris to Madrid which took 17 hours!
I walked the streets of Paris and took a few photos but I will be returning there on a tour which starts mid May. The tour will cover London, Paris and Amsterdam. I will then go back to England and visit Andy - an English mate I met in Roma. I then have to get back to Madrid for my flight to Mexico.
Madrid has been great so far. Nice and warm - no need for a jacket... but not quite board shorts and thongs. I have been hanging out with Miguel (my bother in law´s - Fransisco´s - friend) and Jose (Miguel´s friend) and all their friends. We´ve been drinking vino tinto (red wine), cervezas (beer) and eating lots of tapas... I really need to do some exercise actually... I’m starting to get a bit of a gut happening!!!
Oh... and I don’t understand anything they´re saying!! They speak English, but I want them to speak Spanish... so yeah, it ends up being Spanglish. Haha... mi Espanol es moy mal!! I need to get these lessons booked in Mexico.
As promised, I’ve put some photos up... so there´s a mixture of photos from Milano, Venezia, (not Roma because I dropped the camera and broke it - I have to get Andy´s photos off him), Wien (Vienna), Praha (Prague), Berlin, Paris and some from the weekend I’ve had in Madrid.
Remind me to put up the photos from Roma because Andy got some great photos of the Pope on Good Friday and heaps of great night photos of the Colosseum etc. He had one of those crazy professional cameras with about 3 different massive lenses and a tripod... yeah, awesome photos... I couldn’t have broken mum´s camera at a better time, hahaha. The first thing i did in Vienna was obviously by a new camera.
Some quick highlights:
Milano: going to the Duomo Cathedral and going to the football - AC Milano Vs Lasio - and watching the crazy Milano fans lighting flares and smoking hashish
at half time (apparently security turn a blind eye to it because they would rather the crowd chill out smoking a joint rather than drinking stupid quantities of alcohol and causing violence - pretty interesting theory). See photos.
Venezia: beautiful sunset and litre beers with my new friends while the tide came in (plus the rain) and flooded the streets of Venezia. See photos.
Roma: Spending the first day with Andy - was a 20 hour day! Sightseeing all day, eating pizza and gelato all day and then capping it off at the end of the day with a few beers while we watched the Pope lead the stations of the cross outside the Colosseum (the lights made the Colosseum look surreal - ill have to get those photos up for you).
Wien: turned up too early at the backpackers bar and it was closed... so I walked up the hill and found a little local bar - the Mozart Bar where I had a beer and a Wien pork schnitzel for only 7 Euro (11Aus) - great find! Turned up at this bike festival one day while I was walking around and seeing the sites -
they had a bmx dirt bike jumping contest happening just outside the Rathaus (old building? Haha - they´re all just classified as old buildings now!) - and they also had these crazy bikes someone had put together, weird, very funny and lots of fun - see photos.
Praha: medieval tower - playing with swords and helmet - see photos. Went on the communism tour and the nuclear bunker tour - was so interesting! They actually use the bunker now for private concerts/discos on a Friday night. Got to wear the old nuclear gas mask. See photos.
Berlin: definitely the Stasi Haus was the main highlight... but yeah, there was so much to see it was unbelievable.
Paris: Notre Dame, the Eiffel tower (see photo) and finding a coach to Madrid, haha. I’m going back to Paris on the tour so I wasn’t too fussed about leaving to get to Madrid sooner rather than later.
Madrid: Thus far…the local bars and very friendly people. See photos.
So I hope you are all enjoying your long ANZAC day weekend, Lest We Forget. I´m thinking of you all and hoping you´re all staying safe and well.
Let
me know if you´re in Europe or you´re planning on heading to Mexico!
Cheers,
Tim
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Vic Tim
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hola yerself
Thks goodness you've made it thus far... Please leave the gas mask on...suits you. Don't forget to say your prayers...and do your exercises... Weather here is still humid/sticky/ Back from the great Adelaide - sold out week. Now at the Seymour Centre for another week before going to Launceston next week.