The Last Post - Amsterdam to Home

Our first night in Amsterdam we did a walking tour of the Red Light District finishing with a live sex show. After the show we split into smaller groups to check out the 'coffee shops' and have a look around. We were glad to head back to the bus as there was a weird vibe with lots of drunken tourists giving all the girls the eye.

Next day was our free day in Amsterdam. We walked around the city and went to Anne Franks House. Dinner that night was in a small fishing village called Valendam. Cool to see icons of Holland like the dykes and even a windmill. for our last night as a group we had an open bar booze cruise back in Amsterdam and ended up at a pub playing pool and drinking.

After a full days drive through Belgium, across the channel back to London we said tearful goodbyes to everyone and checked into our hotel. Met up with Simon, Toby and Anthony for dinner.

Next day went to The Royal Mews looking for Ponies but found carriages instead. Had a look at the front of Buckingham Palace, tubed to Marble Arch and Hyde Park for a wonder then tubed to the airport were Toby met us to say goodbye.

Couldn't imagine a better holiday or a better group to spend it with. Now we just have to get back into the real world...

On the High Seas

Actually the sea is pretty calm. We are currently on the 24hr ferry from Corfu to Venice. We are about halfway there or so. This ferry is a million times better then the last one. No truckers, fresh air, big cabins and Internet access... ahhhh civilisation.

Only problem is it is a bit boring. Amelia is currently playing cards so I thought I'd get my computer fix and do a post. Its via a satellite link and on a Greek keyboard so things are a little laggy and odd.

Our last day in Corfu was a blast. We spent the entire day on George's Boat. George is a somewhat dodgy old Greek guy who has been running scenic boat trips for Contiki for something like 30 years. He is hilarious and flirts with all the girls and tries to get everyone naked !

First stop on the trip is at a beachfront hotel where you get to try out all sorts of water sports. Lots of the group did paragliding but Amelia and I hired the Jet ski. Boy do those things go. Amelia got it up past 90km/hr with me clinging on to the back. She didn't trust my driving so I only pushed it to 75Km/hr. I did however get her to let me do donuts at 50km/hr.

After the water sports we had a simple but tasty lunch and then went up the coast for the first of two swimming stops. The water was pretty warm and very clear. Diving off the boat was fun too. The Mediterranean sea is very salty so it was easy to just bob about in the water.

Next we headed off to Hanky Panky Island. On the way George made everyone sing their national anthem. So that meant just Amelia and I doing the NZ one (I don't know the words, the shame of it) and only me doing the South African one !

More swimming at Hanky Panky Island with George desperately trying to get everyone to skinny dip (with only mild success) and then back to the harbour and the hotel for dinner.

All in all a great day.

So our next stop is Venice which should be fantastic. On the way we will hopefully get to stop at Verona too.

We'll post another update as soon as we can.

Corfu - It's All Greek To Me

Yassou, (phonetically speaking) from Greece.

Wow Greek is certainly different from any other language we have come across. To start with shaking your head means yes and nodding means no, the word for no sounds like okay and the written words are slightly less readable to me than Arabic.

However everyone has been lovely and friendly with random strangers saying "good morning" to us in the streets. Corfu is beautiful with crystal clear water and dramatic rocky beaches. I (Amelia) am feeling very rough this morning as we had a toga party last night at another Contiki hotel then went to this awesome bar right on the beach called Edem. We drank hollowed out watermelons into which was poured an entire bottle of vodka!

We are currently taking part in "Corfu Dares" which meant that at the toga party Jonathan had to act like a chicken every time someone introduced themselves. So of course we rounded up everyone we could drag over. At one point a guy from one of the other Contiki groups went outside and yelled "Hey everybody, theres a guy inside who acts like a chicken... just go introduce yourself to the guy who looks like Jesus!" Good times, good times.

The last few days in brief:

Rome - So much history, thank god for the TV series that made it easier to visualise everything. Unfortunately we missed out on the Sistine Chapel as it was closed for the day we were there. Went inside St Peters Cathedral, all I can say is wow, so much detail, gold and marble, in the biggest church in the world. Also saw the Spanish Steps, The Pantheon (one of the worlds oldest buildings), did a tour through the Imperial Ruins and the Colosseum, threw coins in the Trevi Fountain and had dinner in the Piazza Navona.

Pompeii - Just massive. Had a quick guided tour through the city ruins. Very cool to see the original plaster and paint on some of the walls. Very original street signs such as a giant penis carved into the road to show the way to the brothel. Hard to believe all the mafia stories are true. When in Pompeii which is in Napoli we had to eat in a certain cafe as it is owned by the "family" Contiki is associated with. All tour operators have to get affiliated with a family to operate in Italy as it is completely controlled by the mafia.

Overnight Ferry from Bari to Corfu - definitely an experience, this Greek ferry was full of truckers and thick with cigarette smoke. Got to relive our childhoods by sleeping in bunk beds in a tiny cabin. Very rough seas not fun. Something no one mentioned till we got here is that you can't put toilet paper down the toilet as the pipes are too small so you have to wipe then try to remember to put it in the bin beside the toilet. This is not just on the ferry but throughout Greece so also applies in our four star hotel, The Divani Palace.

Right off to lie very still for a while to prepare for a Greek dinner tonight and maybe have a swim in the pool. Not looking forward to the 24 hour ferry but definitely looking forward to Venice in 2 days time.

Europe - Long Lost Post

Buongiorno from Italy!

Its now day 9 and we have finally got a spare 20 minutes to say Hi.

The trip so far is pretty hectic with not enough time in each city to get to an internet cafe. Usually we get from around 10am - 4pm free time but thats to take in a whole city like Paris or Barcelona so pretty crazy!

So far we have been to Paris, Bordeaux, Barcelllona, Nice, Monaco, Pisa and we are now in Florence. Off to Rome tomorrow.

The group we are with is great, a big range of ages from 19 - 37. Mostly Canadians and Aussies with 2 Americans, 3 Philipinos, and we were surprised to find ourselves as the only 2 kiwis.

Argh! only 12 minutes left so, highlights... (excuse spelling)

Paris - VE day, big parade down main street, Louvre, Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower by night, great views from the Arc.

Bordeaux - 1 night, nice dinner at sunset in a square with a canadian couple, Josie and Reed.

Barcellona - Awesome flamenco show, lots of shopping, good nightlife.

Nice - Walk along the promenade, climbed the mountain to look down on the harbour.

Monaco - lost 50 euro at The Grande Casino on Roulette. Nice dinner by the Palace.

Pisa - Dirty and depressing, overrun by hawkers and stalls. Got obligitory photo holding up the tower.

Florence - Beautiful architecture, great food, lots of leather stalls, great night of dancing and karaoke for Josies birthday.

Got to run,

Ciao!

London - Tower of London

We had a pretty easy going day today. It started off a little cold but fined up by the end of the day.

We headed to Oxford Street and did some shopping as Amelia needed a light jumper. Was a little tricky because all of the stores have put out their summer stock!

After finding a jersey at GAP (the third shop we looked) we stopped for a pint at "The Argyle Arms" before meeting Simon at the Baker St tube station.

From Baker St we headed to Tower Hill and had lunch at "The Minories" they had a two meals for £7.95 deal. Nice.

Simon had to head off to a stag do at the Spearmint Rhino so Amelia and I went to the Tower of London. It is really huge and we spent several hours wondering around the castle and the all the buildings contained in its walls. We saw the Crown Jewels (sparkly), Traitors Gate, the White Tower, the prisons and the humongous ravens. Lots of weaponry and armour too :)

After the tower we tubed back to our hotel so we could fill out this blog with what we have been up to over the last few days... so keep on reading!

Bath and Stonehenge Tour

Today we did a tour to Bath and a special access tour to Stonehenge that lets you into the stone circle in the evening, (usually you can only walk around the outside).

We met the tour at the Thistle Victoria in London which is a very swanky place with a beautiful 3 storey lobby. Our driver, John, took us out to Bath with the motormouth tour guide, James, giving us a running commentary on the areas of London and the countryside we passed though.

Our first stop Bath had beautiful honey coloured stone on all the buildings. Our tour included going through the Roman Baths. They are huge with lots of areas excavated and some parts still functioning after 2000 years. We tried the spa water to make us young and healthy but I'm in trouble because while Jon finished his I couldn't drink it. It was like trying to drink hot toilet water!

After a walk around Bath we had a VERY late lunch (5pm) at Lacock. Over lunch we met a lady called Rachel and her mum from America as they shared our table. They have given us their email and kindly offered us a place to stay if we are ever over there. Lacock is a medieval village bought by the National Trust who rent out the houses to caretakers. It has only 4 streets but 4 pubs as it used to be a market town.

Then it was back on the bus past a White Horse carved into the chalky hillside and lots of burial barrows to Stonehenge. We arrived at just before sunset and got to walk around the henge and touch the stones in the setting sun. It was very nice and we got some awesome photos and film.
The earliest parts of the henge are around 5000 years old and the stones are massive some weighing around 50 tonnes and moved from 25 miles away with no wheels!

After getting dropped off back in London, we walked back to our hotel as it was such a nice night.

Edinburgh - Things That Go BANG In The Night

Jonathan's journal entry for today states simply: "last night was noisy and bad".

A construction crew was working all through the night in the Mall that adjoins the hotel. They got really noisy around 2am and just as I had my hand on the phone to yell at reception... the fire alarm went off. We trooped outside with the other guests and if I thought Edinburgh was cold during the day it had nothing on the temperature at night! After the fire department cleared the building we headed back to bed and about 30 minutes later just as we were dropping off the construction crew started back up. But hey, enough of the wah wahs and anyway it gave me an reason to try out my earplugs :)

The next morning we caught a taxi to the airport and had our first chatty taxi driver experience.
We flew BMI who do a use a very painless self check in system using kiosks. This meant there were no queues unlike the other airlines. After a 2 hour flight to Heathrow we landed 25 minutes early and took the tube to our hotel in Earls Court, The Mayflower. We had booked this on a last minute hotel website after we sensed some tension with Simons flatties.

By this time our clothes had got a bit smelly so we spent the afternoon at the local laudrette watching clothes go round and round.

Later we met Simon and Toby at Leicester Square and had a pint in a pub before having a quick dinner in an Itallian Restaurant in Old Compton Road.

After dinner it was time for the long awaited 'Spamalot'! It was hilarious, a mix of the Holy Grail and lot's of new bits with catchy songs like 'Find Your Grail'. We had balcony seats which were up in the clouds and on a steep angle above the stage, it didn't matter though as the show was designed really well to be visable from above.

After the show we headed back to our hotel. Our room has very lavish furnishings but is so tiny was can't actually open out suitcases, we have to take turns opening them on the bed! It does have a nice view however and a cute little balcony. The last two hotels are both 4 star but the one in Edinburgh was more like a 6 star in comparison to The Mayflower.

Edinburgh - Britannia and Holyrood

We awoke to a freezing cold but sunny day in Edinburgh. Went searching for some gloves for my poor frozen hands. Bypassed the fancy stores and eventually found some at 'Pound Mania' at 2 pairs for a quid - nice eh?!

We then caught 'The Majestic' bus out to the port area of Leith to where the royal yacht Britannia is moored. It was tricky to find as you had to go through a large mall and the signage was crappy! The Britannia tour was included in our bus ticket.

The tour was interesting, the royal areas were quite spacious but some of the crew areas were very cramped. We were given some very weird audio guide devices that looked like mobile phones circa 1980 or large plastic beating devices.

From the Britannia we jumped back on the bus to Holyrood Palace. The audio guides here were much better with lots of good info. The Palace is very cool as it is still in use by the queen during summer. Jonathan's favourite spot was the beautiful ruins of the Abbey at the back of the palace. Amelia's favourite part was the hall where the Queen knighted Sean Connery.

From Holyrood we walked back up the Royal Mile stopping at the Museum Of Childhood. This is full of cool old toys and best of all is free, as most of the museums and galleries in Edinburgh seem to be.

We finished the day with dinner at a cute little Thai restaurant in Craig's Close (not very Scottish but hey :)

Edinburgh - Whiskey and Wine

Our second day in Edinburgh started with a nice sleep in to take advantage of no flatties! After a extensive breakfast in the hotel we went to the information centre and purchased a Royal Edinburgh ticket which covers 48 hours of travel on the 4 hop-on hop-off buses plus entry to the Castle, Holyrood Palace and The Royal Britannia.

We started from Waverly Station with the Edinburgh Tour bus on a 1 hour circuit of the city with live commentary. Our guide, Kay, was a very knowledgeable if slightly crazy Scotswoman. We stayed on the bus for part of a second circuit to get to Edinburgh Castle.

The Castle is awesome with panoramic views over the city. The weather was so clear we could see out past the city to the Firth of Fourth. The oldest surviving part of the castle is from the twelfth century with lots of additions over the years like new walls and cannon batteries. We spent around 2 hours wandering around the castle taking in the Scottish Crown Jewels (The Honours) , the Great Hall and going deep into the castle to the old prisons.

Our bodies have by this time eased into a pattern of eating just breakfast and dinner with an afternoon pot of tea. So we stopped for nice hot tea, which is served in the UK in litre sized mugs, and lemon shortbread. After this we headed off to The Scotch Whiskey Experience.

It was pretty cheesy but started well with a free dram of whiskey in a souvenir glass. The Experience ends with a ride that traces the history of whiskey and then it's time to hit the whiskey bar! We told the barman that we were Bourbon drinkers so were recommended 3 whiskeys to try - Monkey Shoulder (a 3 malt blend), Cameron Brig ( a single grain) and The Balvene (a single malt matured in port barrels).

After heading home for a change of clothes we decided to treat ourselves to a traditional Scottish meal at Dubh Prais (pronounced 'Doo Prash'), a lovely romantic restaurant in a cellar off the Royal Mile. The food was really fantastic, you'd be proud of me Mum as I had the haggis! It was served fried in oatmeal with a whiskey and leek sauce and I was surprised to find it was absolutely delicious. Jonathan had the potato and leek soup. For our mains Amelia had chicken and Jonathan had Angus beef. The food was so good, and encouraged by a bottle of Spanish wine, we went into the kitchen to thank the chef who seemed genuinely delighted.

We staggered home in the cold across the North Bridge, half pissed but feeling warm and content inside.

Edinburgh - And In Transit

After packing up or stuff we said goodbye to Simon and his flatmates and headed to the King's Cross Station to catch our train to Edinburgh. The GNER was impressively quiet and fast. The only drawback being this made taking photos extremely tricky! You'll just have to take our word that the scenery was lovely! It felt good to get a glimpse of the sea once we got into Scotland. There was some exciting moments when we passed an oncoming train as there would be a sudden slam of pressure and a rush of air for the few seconds it took the other train to pass.

Four and a half hours later we arrived in Edinburgh at Waverly Station and made our way to The Thistle in Leith Street. This was quite a hike as Edinburgh has a lot of ups and downs especially compared to London.

We checked in around 3pm and headed off for a walk along Princes Street, cutting across into the Old Town by the National Gallery. Edinburgh is quite breathtaking with its beautiful old buildings and streets. There are lots of tiny narrow alleys, called Closes, running up and down the hills between the main streets with great names like 'Fleshmarket Close'. A big park sits in the gully between the Old and New Town areas which is also where the trains run into the huge Waverly Station.

Although the sun was shining in the clear blue sky, the wind was bone chillingly cold! But we braved the chill and wandered down the Royal Mile looking for a place to eat. We knew it was a sign when we spotted a pub called The Tass, (Amelia's Grandpa's name) and sure enough they had the best prices we had seen with £6 Monday night dinners. We both chose the steak mince pies with chips, beans and gravy ( and you were worried we'd eat at McDonalds Megan!). Even better the pubs in Scotland are smoke-free so the meal was undisturbed by smoke.

After dinner we walked back up the Royal mile and over the North Bridge back to our hotel for an early night.

London - Sunny Sunday (Day 6)

Today we went to Camden Markets with Toby and Katie. The markets are truly massive and maze-like with stalls selling everything imaginable but lot's of the same thing in each one. The streets are so completely crowded with people that you have to be carefull not to be pushed onto the road!

We started with aFull English Breakfast in 'The Elephants Head'. This was a much nicer then the one we had yesterday at a small greasy spoon off Trafalgar Square. Eating in pubs is a bit hard to get used to because people are allowed to smoke; restaurants also have smoking areas. Apparently all smoking in pubs and restaurant is going to be banned in June or July this year.

The good thing with the pub was that we got a window seat so we could watch the crowd go past. Lots of goths and alternative fashions worn in Camden so quite interesting to watch.

After brunch we spent the rest of the day walking through the markets.

One of the best stores we went into was called Cyberdog. It supports the dance/rave culture and sells all sorts of glow-in-the-dark outfits, some with changing LED displays. They have a DJ playing thumping dance music, dancers up on podiums and black lights everywhere so it almost feels more like a club then a store. It was hilarious to watch people buying clothes like tight day-glo pants with enormous puffy bottoms.

That morning we had stopped at King's Cross Station to pick up out tickets for our train trip to Edinburgh tomorrow. This was pretty cool since we ordered out tickets on the web back in New Zealand, then to get the tickets we found a Fastticket booth, put in our credit card and it printed out the tickets !

So tonight is our last night at Simon's as we are off to Edinburgh tomorrow. Apart from not seeing Simon for a week or so we are also going to lose access to his nice high speed broadband and his laptop. Oh the manatee! So our posts may become a little less frequent and less likely to have pictures for the next wee while :(

Anyway off to dinner with Simon now at Shish, Turkish restaurant with yummy tapas style mezze dishes and Baklava ice cream!

London - What we did on day 5

What a fantastic day. The weather was brilliant really hot and sunny. We met up with some friends Jonathan went to school with that he hadn't seen for 10 - 15 years, Chris and Kirsteen, at the National Gallery inTrafalgar Square. The gallery has some awesome paintings dating back hundreds of years but its not really my (Jonathan) kind of art.

After that we wandered down to Carnaby Street and had a look at the shops there, then we nipped round the corner to Hamleys which is a giant toy store with six floors of toys !

We then walked back down to Covent Gardens and met up with another friend, Sean. We had lunch there and had a really good catch up.

Sean had to go, but the rest of us went off to the London Dungeon. It was a little pricey at £20 each but it did last 2 hours and had some pretty neat things. I really liked the free fall during the simulated hanging ride.

Chris and Kirsteen had to head back to Milton Keynes (about an hour and half out of London) so we went to dinner with Simon, Toby and Katie to Suzie Wong's in Soho. This is a fantastic restaurant and does a Thai/Asian tapas style menu. The decor, service and food was great with the five of us sharing six or seven dishes.

After a hard day of walking and with me feeling fluey, Amelia and I headed home whilst the others went out to party (until 5am apparently).

London - Day 4

Today was a day of more exploring by foot. After a late start due to updating this blog and doing some research on Simon's computer we headed to Covent garden. The markets are a busy place filled with shops, stalls, street performers and lots of good smelling food. Lunch today was traditional Cornish Pasties which were delicious!

We then explored the streets nearby, ending up at Leicester Square where we bought some tickets for next Thursday to the Monty Python musical 'Spamalot'. There are a bunch of booths in Leicester Square where you can get discounted tickets for many of the shows especially for that night's performance. The queues are not long but it takes ages to get through each person so can be a long wait. Unfortunately there are no discounts for Spamalot as it is generally sold out on the night but our tickets were still much cheaper than seeing a major show in NZ at £25 ($67NZD) per person.

We continued walking to Picadilly Circus which was packed with people and then to Trafalgar Square. The buildings are all so incredibly beautiful and ornate it's hard not to take a photo of every one! Everything is also on such a grand scale with the buildings towering over you and the roads crowded with people.

London - Coverage of Day 3

Our third day in London started with a frantic rush to get out of the house in time for a walking tour of the changing of the guard with 'The Big Bus Company'. The tour departed at 10am from Trafalgar Square and after 2 tube changes we made it there at 10.02!

Luckily there was still time so we greeted our guide Richard and his Umbrella of Pointing and we were off. We walked down the Mall, seeing the changing of the cavalry, to St Jame's Palace to meet up with the retiring regiment, The Coldstream Guards. We were right in front of the palace when they came out with a full brass band and burst unexpectedly into 'Downtown' by Petula Clark. Despite knowing all the words I resisted the urge to sing along, (damn you singstar!). Then we were off in a foot race with the quick marching Guards, our eyes firmly fixed on the Umbrella so we didn't get lost in the crowds, to catch the new regiment, The Blues and Royals as they came out of their barracks on the other side of Green Park. Richard was excellent getting us prime positions and we saw so much more than we would have trying to cram up to the gates at Buckingham Palace with the 5000 other people who were there.

Ater the tour the went and had a traditional pub lunch at a The Albert on Victoria Street which was recommended by Richard. Amelia had good ole fish and chips and Jonathan had chicken kiev with a nice pint of Strongbow cider.

As well as 3 walking tours the Big Bus Company's ticket gives you access to a hop-on-hop-off bus service and a river cruise up the Thames. So after The Albert we jumped onto the "red line" big bus (which has live commentary) at Westminster. The bus tour takes about 2 and a half hours and wanders all around the central part of London.

Patsy our tour guide was excellent and it was very cool to see London from the top of the open double deaker bus. It's amazing how old parts of the city are (1000 to 2000 years) and how many old buildings still stand, often housing the same business for several hundred years.

Unfortuantely the weather closed in so we were forced to go to the lower level of the bus for the last 30 minutes of the tour.

Feeling pretty much wiped out and with the weather going to pot we decided not to do the river cruise and headed home.

When Simon came home we went out to West Hampstead and had dinner at GBK a gourmet burger joint.

Almost time to go !

Wow only 2 days before we leave. Haven't started to pack yet but I think we have everything we need.

We'll try and keep this blog updated regularly so please visit it regularly.