Yes, don’t worry, I know it’s a rather cliché catch phrase. Unlike me to use such a thing but, it seems the most appropriate to describe my experience. Backpacking best encompasses what I did:
One: travelling with a backpack
Two: sleeping in hostels, planes, numerous stations and on plenty of trains and even beaches
Four: scouring Europe
Now that’s all established, I can apologise.
Apologise for not posting up my usual blog for so long, especially from such an awesome time travelling Europe. Hopefully you’ve accepted my apology and we can now both move forward as I take you through a montage of my travels. Well a montage with words, so not really a montage, but it’s a series of photos with words. I don’t know what that’s called, BUT my point is that LIKE a montage, this ‘collection of pictures and words’ provides a condensed view of my activities and whatever else while travelling Europe.
7 weeks.
12 countries.
The pictures say the rest.
Barcelona
A beautiful day bike riding around Barcelona, taking boy band pictures, cruising on my two metre bike and buying a Bull’s Scrotum converted into a drink sack. All topped off by one of the best nights of the year at beachside club, ‘Opium’ deep into the early hours of the morning.
Went to the yet to and likely never to be completed Gaudi Church is designed to have a 150m tall pillar in the middle of it, twice the pheunomenal size it is now!
Went to the yet to and likely never to be completed Gaudi Church is designed to have a 150m tall pillar in the middle of it, twice the pheunomenal size it is now!
We decided that the Spanish can't help but copy everyone elses monuments, with replicas of the Arc de Triomph of Paris and the Brandenberg Gate of Berlin.
We actually stayed in Bardelona as well! About a 25 minute train ride out of the city. At about 2am was wandered the streets on the first night looking for our hostel and having an old man stumble after us, it was looking grim. Wilko's comment that, "I'd actually settle for a stabbing right now," probably paints the best picture. All the more for the experience!
Our camping gear for the music festival was bought here as well! In fact, just the night before we left for it. Very lucky.
Benicassim
South-East Coast of Spain and four days of awesome music, partying and baking on the nude beaches. Mumford and Sons, Calvin Harris (live), The Prodigy, Kasabian, The Klaxons, Boys Noize, Gorillaz, Dizzee Rascal, Cut Copy, Temper Trap, Goldfrapp andMidnight Juggernaughts to name just the headline acts.
By the way, that bladder hanging off my shoulder above, is a bulls' scrotum purchased in Barcelona filled with one and a half litres of vodka. Handy :)
Our crazy British friends with Schmilk Daddy and I!
Oh yeh. Weird face photo with Jacko: we got asked if we were brothers everywhere we went, so we thought hey let’s have some fun with this. Convinced several people we were at least brothers and occasionally even pulled off Swedish Twins!
Climbed a mountain on the last day and planted the umbrella bought in Barcelona (along with all the camping gear) which saved us from the glaring sun every day.
Our last sighting of the Umbrella at the top of the mountain as we walked to the train station.
Mykonos
I lied. We didn’t actually see Gorillaz and Dizzee Rascal play because we had to leave one night early to get to the Greek islands before the boys ran out of time to get home for Uni. BUT that meant seeing David Guetta play on our first night in Mykonos at cliff-side and world renowned club Cavo Paradiso where I swum in the pool in the middle and left at 9am. Stayed here for 10 days so we settled in, took our time particularly leisurely given the festival, hired scooters to get around the island and then seriously partied. This place was happening. An average bed time was 6-7am. We also saw Bob Sinclar and Steve Angello play who were awesome, and the boys saw Fedde le Grande play as well at beach-side club Paradise Club.
We met some awesome Aussies including a group of six girls who we got on with straight away. Great times with them and we met up later around Europe as well. Also some met some fun American girls and some of the crudest Aussie guys we’d ever known. Sleep was a luxury here, and partying and skinny dipping in the early hours of the morning the norm.
Paros
An amazing sunset and setting enjoyed from our dinner table on the first night with our Aussie friends.
The top of Paros.
Wilko left us in Mykonos to head back to Melbourne, so Jacko and I were left with eight days and three more islands together. With four days on Paros, recovery was on the agenda as we made up on lost sleep from the last ten days and particularly last two nights in Mykonos. Jacko and I hired a scooter on our second last day and adventured the island, finding secluded beaches and awesome views.
As you can see by this stage we'd fully embraced the linen shirts for the Greek Isands. I did have a white one which was purchased well over a year ago back in Melbourne so if ever there was a perfect place to wear it, it was here.
The scooters only accelerated to about 50-60 km/h but on a nice long downhill highway like the ones in Paros ad Mykonos we got up to 90 km/h, just don't tell mum.
She wasn't entirely comfortable with the cliff jumps or even my avalanche risk skiing earlier this year in the French Alps, but I'm still alive so all the strong for it!
An amazing day spent on an old yacht sailing around the island, finding cliff jumps and having a traditional Greek lunch, including freshly caught Squid from that morning, made it all the more special. Spent with an awesome group of girls and guys, it was simply one of those days.
An amazing sunset and setting enjoyed from our dinner table on the first night with our Aussie friends.
The top of Paros.
Wilko left us in Mykonos to head back to Melbourne, so Jacko and I were left with eight days and three more islands together. With four days on Paros, recovery was on the agenda as we made up on lost sleep from the last ten days and particularly last two nights in Mykonos. Jacko and I hired a scooter on our second last day and adventured the island, finding secluded beaches and awesome views.
As you can see by this stage we'd fully embraced the linen shirts for the Greek Isands. I did have a white one which was purchased well over a year ago back in Melbourne so if ever there was a perfect place to wear it, it was here.
The scooters only accelerated to about 50-60 km/h but on a nice long downhill highway like the ones in Paros ad Mykonos we got up to 90 km/h, just don't tell mum.
She wasn't entirely comfortable with the cliff jumps or even my avalanche risk skiing earlier this year in the French Alps, but I'm still alive so all the strong for it!
An amazing day spent on an old yacht sailing around the island, finding cliff jumps and having a traditional Greek lunch, including freshly caught Squid from that morning, made it all the more special. Spent with an awesome group of girls and guys, it was simply one of those days.
My gut wrenching dive. Should be noted that Jacko attempted it before me and pulled out but I was determined to do it. Here we are :)
Santorini
Wow. Cliff side Thira and Sunset heaven Oia are two of the most beautiful places in the world. Jewellery heaven which Jacko and I took advantage of for both ourselves and mother dearest’s back home.
Being chased down the 577 steps down the donkey trail from the main town down to the old port, the beginning of our journey to the Volcan and hot springs.
One of the sweatiest days of this trip! A day trip to the volcano and hot springs opposite was well worth it and we left the island in style, having on the biggest nights for the trip. Completely unplanned, Jacko and I didn’t even say, ‘hey let’s have a big one,’ it just happened. The next morning we both looked at each other and agreed, ‘the events of last night will never be mentioned outside of this room again.’ So far so good.
Ios
The renowned party island of the Greek Archipelago and with only two days left for the trip with Jacko, we wanted to make it well worth it. Unfortunately, he’d lost his pair and we had a very anti-climatic end to the trip. We still managed to find ‘Slammer Bar’ and receive a slammer shot which involved skilling a glass of Tequila and Sprite then being smashed on the head with a hammer while wearing a scooter helmet. I even saw one girl get kicked by a bartender as well.
Spent an awesome day kayaking to an eighteen metre cliff jump, my highest yet, and then having a BBQ on our own private beach.
Also ran into Ed Unkles randomly, who’d I’ve done a lot of travelling with this year, and we spent this day together which was an awesome surprise. Ran into another mate from school in Melbourne as well and met up with two girls from Brisbane we’d made quite good friends with.
Spent an awesome day kayaking to an eighteen metre cliff jump, my highest yet, and then having a BBQ on our own private beach.
Also ran into Ed Unkles randomly, who’d I’ve done a lot of travelling with this year, and we spent this day together which was an awesome surprise. Ran into another mate from school in Melbourne as well and met up with two girls from Brisbane we’d made quite good friends with.
Athens
Hmm... staying in the district we stayed in is not recommended. Prostitutes yelling abuse across the street while wielding knives, being offered drugs on every corner and trying to skip by the non-subtle pimps was my experience of Athens. Unfortunately the large amount of police present didn’t make me feel anymore safe.
Hmm... staying in the district we stayed in is not recommended. Prostitutes yelling abuse across the street while wielding knives, being offered drugs on every corner and trying to skip by the non-subtle pimps was my experience of Athens. Unfortunately the large amount of police present didn’t make me feel anymore safe.
Greek Gods?
We did however, get amazing views from the top of Athens at the Acropolis, enjoyed with Mikka and Gemma, our Brissy girls and part the family we'd formed. Our last day together after two weeks spent on and off together through the Greek Islands.
Jacko left the next day back to Melbourne, the girls left to Florence, Italy and I went off to meet up with Lindsay, a good mate from back in Melbourne.
Only midnight the same day that everyone had left me and I was off on my next adventure though and heading up by train now on a 22 day continuous Interail pass through Europe. First stop Thessaloniki in Northen Greece for the day on my way to Belgrade overnight.
Gem and Miks as they were affectionately known, were our best buddies during the Greek Islands. From Brissy, we had some laughs and great times together. Our last day after two weeks in the Greek islands, but I did get to meet back up with them and a few of the other girls in another month in Paris!
Thessaloniki
A twelve hour stop over in the largest University city of Greece had me excited to explore. Given my new freedom with travel for the next twenty days via a continuous and all-inclusive European Rail ticket, I had even more reason to want to explore. I watched a middle aged and overweight man dance for over an hour with rollerblades in the main square as if he was performing for the Ice Skating event at the Olympics. Found 'The White Tower,' one of the main touris attractions, and which isn't actually white. OOPS. Enjoyed exploring one of the galleries and awakening my the artistic and left-side of my brain. 
Belgrade
Ah Belgrade, Serbia. Definitely one of my favourite cities. Clubs on the river on floats, medievel buildings effortlessly a part of the modern day streets, a cafe culture to try and rival Melbournes and head above the rest, the most beautiful women. They were simply sexy with ease.
The beautiful old town and castle of Belgrade. FYI - I'm still alive.
I tried the local beer in every new country and city all the way through Europe. 'Jelen' was the local Serbian beer which I liked, along with the 20 other different brands I tried. Also, the ring on my finger is a little teddy bear I bought at the local markets. It was only 3-4 euro but they had some awesome rings I almost bought for about 30 euro each.
I apologise I don't know the technical name of this, but put simply, it makes Rakja, the local Balkan/Serbian/Croatian spirit. The chamber on the left boils to heat the alcohol and fruits in the right part. This stuff was very strong! We found the machine in this beautiful room underneath the castle with plenty of other orginal pieces.
Don't know what this piece of metal was doing in the castle but it made for a great photo
Apparenty the second largest Church in the world. Oh! I also remember seeing the coolest dog here! Was one of those big fluffly grey and white ones from the Dulux ad in Australia. Anyway, the Church was massive and very imposing in real life.
Playing with some pictures of the Church and the great angle of the sun.
Public transport. Ah my best friend. I took a total of three cabs during my whole 7 weeks travelling. My longest walk home after a night out was 1 and a half hours. We took one cab to the port on one of the Greek Islands, another to get home after a night out and one to get the shopping home at the music festival in Spain. Very proud.
The castle had great spot around every corner. Was great to wander and take picures on such a magical day. The first day of about fourteen Gillies and I travelled together.
from left: Gillies, Andrea, two Swiss girls and me. Our first night in Belgrade and a great dinner with some friendly Europeans Gillies had met earlier that day. Andrea was Italian and not surprisngly a character! The two Swiss girls were quite different and also quiet but their company was enjoyable nonetheless.
Belgrade - Zagreb
Ah the amount of train stations I saw in this two months. Some of them were quite pretty and clean and others old and dirty, but all had character. Funny story!
While I was waiting for Gillies at Belgrade station I was on the internet in a restaurant. A police officer walks in, points at the two of us sitting on a computer and starts arguing with the bartender and withing 30 seconds they're going hammer and tong at the top of their voices. I just logged off quickly and got out of there. I think the cop was demanding to use a computer but we were occupying them so yeh one of my closest calls with authorities during travels, was quite funny on reflection.
One of the pictures of the summer. Captured my last month of travelling - trains, meeting people, beers and going to new amazing places. Bought some local Serbian beers to celebrate our next journey and Gillies took a great picture here. I was hanging out the window and looked back up the train to see another bloke doing the same with beer in hand. He caught me just as I was nodding a cheers to this guy - love it.
Gillies my partner in crime for 14 days. Lives opposite me back in Melbourne, went to high school together for 6 years and here we are travelling europe together. I loved the cabins in the trains and found sleeping on them quite therapeutic, it was nice to have this one to ourselves on this night but getting up at 5am to get off at Zagreb wasn't great.
Zagreb
Sometimes it all just got too much. I literally just passed out on the grass in the middle of the afternoon.
Yippee we're in Croatia! Wow Zagreb was pretty. The buildings, parks and streets were all so classicly beautiful. We had amazing weather when we were there and it was just such a pretty city - my first exposure to the fact that pretty cities do in fact exist.
The cutest little kitten being looked after by the staff at our hostel. I played with it for hours and it was SO much fun! For those of you that don't already know, I love animals.
Our one attempt in Zagreb at a good night out really went to crap quite quickly. By 3am we were at least an hours walk from home, had found no where but a stingy nightclub a quarter filled, been hassled by homeless people living in a nearby park, and I'd had enough haha again kudos for Gillies for capturing the moment
Ah my beloved Nikon. It became an extension of my right arm during the trip. We had good and bad times. But it was mostly a symbiotic relationship. It got to see some amazing scenery and I got to learn a lot about how to work it. Here I am at the top of Zagreb. Literally the highest point of which some cool photos I got are below.
A photo bomb that actually came out well! Sorry Gillies, but fun picture :)
The top of this old tower in Zagreb was so much fun to play with. I was spoilt. Blue sky. The city background and some amazing textures on the tower exterior. I wasn't going to leave without getting the shot, and now this is one of my favourite shots of the summer.
The streets, sky, trams and shops - no picture can do any of it justice. Trust me, I tried.
The Zagreb Academy for Theatre. An amazing building and surrounding grounds. We asked a local girl to take a picture of Gillies and I in front of it and she assured me she studies photography at University. Well theres a reason the picture isn't up here. With such a beautiful backdrop she decided our faces were more interesting and so we walked away with headshots we could have had any where in the world. Oh well! She was pretty.
Ah can't remember what this was called but I have the menu still so I'll have a look. A local Balkan dish, it was massive, cost only 2-3 euro and took me a good 20-30 minutes to finish. AND it was delicious. Sitting by a beautiful lake just out of the city, it was one of the best meals of the trip!
A day in Slovenia
We were meant to go to the Croatian coast. Instead, we ended up coming here and clearly it was a disappointing decision. Or not. It was amazing. We left Zagreb at 6am, spent the day in Bled, at Lake Bled (pictures below) and hung out with some fun British girls we'd met a few days earlier. Another of my favourite shots, we went swimming during a thunderstorm in the mild 30 degree fresh water lake. I seriously had to pinch myself.
Me, Mel from Cambridge and at Uni in Bath, Steph from Cambridge and at Uni in Bristol, and Gillies. Behind is the Church on an island in the middle of the lake and on the right the castle on the clifftops looking right over the lake.
A Slovenian woman's handwriting from the bus after Gillies and I realised we hadn't asked a local what 'hello' and 'cheers' was in Slovenian. From what I cx Not to worry, I took photo evidence in case it washed off.
Budapest
SZIGET! BUDAPEST! Last year had an attendance of 380,000 people over the week long festival. This place was ridiculous. You could get married, bungee jump, get a piercing, buy a lifetimes worth of hippy clothes and jewellery, have a beer at a bar 50m above ground and shoot a bow and arrow. OH, there was music as well and it was all on its own island in the middle of Budapest.
We were meant to see Deadmau5 but he decided to overdose in New York a few days earlier so he was cancelled. RAH! Still got to see Iron Maiden some crazy rock band that 15,000 other people thought were pretty good. Also, The Muse who were awesome and Kasabian, both on the same night in front of 30,000 plus people. It was crazy and made our Spanish festival look tiny with 52 stages v. Spains 6
During The Muse. One of my pics of the year / summer. THE festival picture (above and below)
Gillies and an English mate of his Andrew. They're standing on a bin they fell off 3 times before I could get the photo. Well worth it.
I've still got this hat! The two German girls in the pic below gave it to me for the night and told me to keep it we had such a good time.
Post festival, we stayed at this literally world-rated hostel, Budapest Backpacker Guesthouse. I emailed them a few days earlier asking for a bed and they said, 'we can find place in our garden for you.' Why not! We slept in the yurt out the back and met some awesome people including these two Slovenian girls and a few other Irish girls.
The yurt on the right and part of the garden.
The Thermal Baths in Budapest. We spent our last of four days here relaxing in the different baths and even got a massage. The building was beautiful as you can see and the pools had old men playing chess on raised tables in them. Really felt like I was in Europe here. Bought some shorts from the centre to commemorate the day and what a great day it was.
In case you were wondering, at the side of the ridiculously big crowd watching The Muse.
Some fun night pictures Gillies and I took
Chilling in the park next to the river between Buda and Pest, stunning Budapest Parliament in the background and my pack that has taken me around Europe and beyond :)
Chilling in the park next to the river between Buda and Pest, stunning Budapest Parliament in the background and my pack that has taken me around Europe and beyond :)So the guy to the right in the wolf mask and purple tights was hilarious! He was running around the whole night with a mate of his wearing a wrestling mask as well. I had a very surreal moment when I was standing outside one of the dance floors and just saw him run past me towards one of the bigger tents with duck tape tightly wrapped around his torso and arms so he couldnt move them at all. Was one of the weird sights of my trip.
Time exposure shots opposite the parliament were fun to play around with. As you can see this building was simply majestic and a treat to photograph at this time of night.
I'm sorry I just couldn't get enough of the Parliament building. The river, skyline and banks of buildings and hills on either side were quite the sight.
Prague
Prague
Ah Prague. My beloved Prague. Gillies could not stop raving about it all year and we ended up spending 5 days here and getting to know the place pretty well. The city is simply class. The buildings all hail from before the war and some remain damaged on the outside. The skyline is non-stop thanks to adamently enforced building laws and you can see below just how beautiful it was at dusk. We saw a bollywood romantic being filmed on the side of the hill where we were which just spoke volumes about the city. Its romantic, pretty and busy. So so busy with tourists. My only disappointment with the place.
(above) Holding a big chunk of freshly open-fire cooked ham from the old-town square in the middle of Prague. They sold Trdelnik as will which was only 50 crowns (about 1 euro) and was a twisted piece of pastry covered in sugar in cinnamon. Also bought a necklace from the blacksmith working there. (right) Our approach to the castle at the top of Prague was unexpectadly grand with this massive Church greeting us against the endless blue sky. Haha we also had quite a funny moment here asd there were three dark-skinned women from America trying to take photos of each other and one of them just wasn't happy with any of the photos her friends were taking. I think they were there for a good half an hour trying to get the right picture, of her lying playboy style, and then arguing firstly about the photo and then about each other.
Wine, German girls, Gillies and chilling at our hostel in Prague. Doesn't get much better. These were the German girls, Katharina and Yana, that I met in Milano earlier in the year and we arranged to meet up again in Europe. We spent three days together and to see them again was awesome. This night (above) I bought a big basket of groceries and cooked up an big spaghetti bolognese which even our Italian friend at the hostel complimented. Was a great relxaxing night after a hectic, lets be honest, last month.
(above) One of my favourite pictures from Prague that captured both the city and the girls' friendship and fun loving spirit. (right) Gillies practicing his culinary photography skills at an amazing restaurant we ate only the appetiser you can see here as it was so expensive. Two beers and this tomato and goats cheese appetiser were well worth the 20 euros in total though. The view was from the side of the castle overlooking the whole of Prague as dusk descended upon it while Gillies and I indulged for a rare moment in the travels.
(right) Credit to Gillies again for this photo. We exchanged thoughts and knowledge on our SLRs as we travelled and with Gillies having just purchased his before the summer holidays it was nice to pass on some tips of my own. Again, he did very well to capture Prague. This is it in a nutshell.
I come to Prague and you give me beer with a head taking up a third of the beer! Not happy! Haha as you can clearly see in my expression below. There were some awesome bars and pubs here as you'd expect and I'd love to go back and sample the beer properly. This was an awesome night out on a pub crawl where we finished at Central Europes biggest club with five storeys and different dance-floors. Katharina proved to be quite a handful as well, inticing guys towards her then running away and going to the next haha was quite entertaining to watch as I was busy chatting to some Swiss girls I'd met, while Gillies had to look after her.
Ah the Dutch boys! Tom on the left, Stan in the middle and Josh on the right. These boys were an absolute blast. Tom was massive. Every part of his body had been increased ten fold and he suitably made 'friends' with a Melbourne girl we'd met there who was a similar height. They towered above use all. Stan and Josh were a little smaller than me, along with Gillies so I felt rather tall for the night as well. They'd driven down from the south of the Netherlands for a weekend trip and bought all their musical intruments and talent with them as well so it was awesome to listen to them jam with their two guitars and an air-powered piano. Good times.
This night was awesoem fun and also ridiculous. I got a tip from a local Czech friend to head to 'Cross Club' because its a bit different and where its all happening at the moment. And wow was it happening. The music was pretty underground, they even had a live drummer backing up one of the DJs, and the whole club was made out of old car and building parts. All the lights on the walls made it rather weird as well. In short, it was awesome.
This guy who looked a lot like me who was sleeping in the middle of the place with a cut eyebrow was pretty random and funny. The boys looked after him though.
One Night in Brno
Ah one night in Brno. We actually had quite a few of these 'one-nighters' or 'one-dayers' but this was certainly one of the best. Our host (below) Magdelena, showed us our own apartment for the night, then her very sizeable two storey penthouse complete with spa and couches on the decking overlooking the city and then took us to the beautiful local park around the towns castle and we had a picnic with Champagne and Sushi, that she picked up for free because of her own photographing skills. She'd done work for the company and so had a 20,000 euro tab with them.
Two of Magdelena's local friends whom we got on quite well with. Barbora and I chatted for quite a while and then Lucy, her blonde friend in the foreground, took us to a local bar where she worked and we continued the night of free drinks and dancing. Awesome fun!
So I told Magdelena when she showed us the hot tub and the view that I hoped she knew what she had herself in for. Well once we'd arrived back at hers at 3am it took me 10 min to be in there and relaxing with a drink. With a view like this, how could I not? Gillies and Magdalena joined me and we got to bed at 5.30, another awesome very random adventure. All capped off the next day when her mum put together, no joke, one of the best three-course meals I'd ever had. Feta, fresh Tomato, Basil and Olive oil salad, mushroom soup and freshly made paste and chicken pasta sauce. Only an hour after all this the next day at 1pm and we were on the train back to Bern.
Bern
Switzerland. Wow. One of the most beautiful places in Europe, but man it blew my budget. I had about two days to myself and made an effort to talk to as little people as possible. Might sound a bit anti-social, but, given the amount of socialising I'd done the last month and a half, I needed a rest. To be with myself again. An active meditation. Making my own dinner and sitting by the strongly flowing river amongst the trees (below) was one great way to spend some time alone.
Where I had dinner (above) was at on this side of the river almost directly below. It was a short but very steep hike up the hill and straight into the city centre of Bern. Wasn't such a bad hike when I was rewarded with this view. The hill on the left in the distance I'm told by a local friend, was being skied on during the winter.
My one full day in Bern and the weather was simply spectacular. It seemed every place I was going was shining for me then raining when I left. On the left is Bern's Parliament House with a view on the other side, similar to the photo above. These water spouts made for an awesome front-drop to an already majestic building.
Funnily enough, Parliament's address is No. 2, Bern and the Swiss Bank, in the same sqaure, is No. 1, in case there was any queries as to where they power lay.
Above, well Europe loves its bicycles and Bern was no different. Another favourite picture of mine that I feel captured the city.
Funnily enough, Parliament's address is No. 2, Bern and the Swiss Bank, in the same sqaure, is No. 1, in case there was any queries as to where they power lay.
Above, well Europe loves its bicycles and Bern was no different. Another favourite picture of mine that I feel captured the city.
The Swiss are clever. Sure we already knew that, but Bern has well and truly convinced me. There's no market square in Bern, unlike every other European city, as the shape of the land didn't allow for it. Instead, they built very wide roads, about 10 m, so that the market stalls could be set up in the middle of the road between the buildings. The distance also made it less likely for fires to spread across their wooden houses. They have 11 water fountains in total in the city which all to this day have perfectly good drinking water flowing from them, each with different figures on top. The one above of a bear is more tame than one we spotted of a man-monster eating babies. Hmm. All the buildings by law are made of the same stone so that every building in the main part of the city is the same colour and design. Its quite impressive. About a decade ago they decided to build arcades as well, undercover walkways, so that when it was raining you could walk along the streets and not get wet. So now, with 6 km worth of undercover walkways in front of all the shops, theres never a day you can't shop. Bern means Bear in Swiss-German, and is supposed to of gotten its name from the man who decided to claim the land as he said he would name the city after the first animal he killed in the loca forest. Well no prizes for guessing what it was. These are two new cubs of the parents that life with them in the large enclosure by the river, above. They were unbelievably cute and playful! 
The beauty of Bern and the crystal clear flowing river that runs around it. What a day.
Solothurn and Swiss friends
A 45min train ride out of Bern and I was in Solothurn with two pretty Swiss girls I'd met in London earlier this year. The evening went to a whole new level I hadn't expected when they announced we were going to the lake nearby for dinner and the setting was just amazing. Ducks seeking our food, some boys fishing, a couple in a row boat and there I was having dinner in a new town, at a beautiful lake with some Swiss friends. 
Above is the temporary BBQ which we luckily could actually use because of my travelling preparation in having a lighter with me. The girls had forgotten matches to get it start. Otherwise they were very well prepared. And below, well thats just proof I was actually there as well! 
Luzern and the Stanserhorn
'My town is boring, go to Luzern for the day,' were Celine, my friends words to me the night before when she was giving me ideas for how to spend the next day as she had Uni. So I went to Luzern! An hour train ride later, then a 10 minute cable car and finally a very steep 10 minute ski-lift later, and I was standing on one of the highest easily accesible peaks of the Swiss Alps.
The bridge and tower below is part of what Luzern is famous for - its centuries old and the structure still stands. With Swans swimming everywhere and old beautiful buildings and people lining the river banks of expensive cars and wealthy people, this was definately one of the places to be in Central Europe and Switzerland.
'My town is boring, go to Luzern for the day,' were Celine, my friends words to me the night before when she was giving me ideas for how to spend the next day as she had Uni. So I went to Luzern! An hour train ride later, then a 10 minute cable car and finally a very steep 10 minute ski-lift later, and I was standing on one of the highest easily accesible peaks of the Swiss Alps.
The bridge and tower below is part of what Luzern is famous for - its centuries old and the structure still stands. With Swans swimming everywhere and old beautiful buildings and people lining the river banks of expensive cars and wealthy people, this was definately one of the places to be in Central Europe and Switzerland.
I had to catch another 20 minute train out of Luzern to this humble town where the cable car that took us up from the town to the ski lift. (above)
No words needed, and yet I still typed some.
Train stopping Cannes, South France, one night only. Why not hey? Met up with an English friend here who was working there during the summer.
Amazing scenery all the way along the train trip. Monaco was by far the highlight. Was also greeted by a completely nude man standing one some rocks looking out at the ocean.
Photos, enough to explain how pretty the promenade was.
Paris. Hang on while I pinch myself to check I'm actually here. '' Meet me at 7pm under the Eiffel Tower. I'll bring some wine. x ''
The message to a good friend from Melbourne. OH how I loved that I could send that text.
Shopping, lots of vintage shopping, a few good nights out with the girls from the Greek Islands and some Australian friends, and then I was back home in Taunton, South-West England.
I'm almost ashamed to say that I didn't come up with either of the slightly crass photos here. The one above with the Eiffel Tower as my... 'appendage' nor the one beside here with the man's massive fountain. Both were the work of the two girls above, Gemma and Mikka. My Greek Islands sisters and we just managed to have the timing and organisation to meet up in Paris with four of the other girls as well. Fun times. Beautiful weather this day and amazing sights. I left Paris to the airport at 4.30pm and at 9pm I was sitting back in my house in the West of England with a jumper on watching TV.How things happen quickly.Hope you enjoyed the ride, but you can't of more than I did.
7 weeks.
12 countries.
The pictures say the rest.
