Farewells: Jane Austen was here (with friends)

Me with a keyring I got at Camden Markets




The Jane Austen was here madness begins... in the Circus in Bath




Jane Austen goes to Boots in Bath.




... and to the big pub quiz in Harrow




Lizzy, Joey, Dan, Me... Jane Austen... in Harrow




Farewell hug with Dan P at Trinity in Harrow




Roz, Soph and I in Harrow... looking cheeky!




Roz, Ross and I... I think I am trying to pout or something.




Soph, Ross and Roz in Harrow

London: Parting is such sweet sorrow

I'm at Heathrow waiting for my flight back to Australia to start boarding. This whole thing finished the same way it started really... me on a Piccadilly line tube on my own with a massive backpack and grey drizzly skies outside. Except this time it was hot outside rather than freezing. And this time I was leaving a city I loved rather than arriving in a city I knew nothing about.

The last few days have been a lot of fun. We went to Bath, where we enjoyed it's loveliness greatly. We paid to go in to a Jane Austen museum which turned out to be really crappy, basically an overpriced tourist trap. Soph was excited... but then dissapointed as the only Colin Firth as Mark Darcy reference was the poster at the front door. Basically it chronicled every house Jane had stayed in for the entire 5 years she lived in Bath. Wow. It even had a crappy video with this chick walking around randomly in a purple sweater providing minimal narration but getting her face in every shot possible. You just had to see it, I'm sorry.

So from this we hatched an ingenious plan while sitting in the garden in the middle of the famous Circus. We made a sign that said "Jane Austen was here" and in every photo we took in Bath, we held the sign. I shall post the evidence when I return to Oz. We thought it was hilarious.

Jane Austen even followed us back to our crazy hostel in Bath, which had crazy coloured walls and beds that were named after celebrities. I was Whitney Housten. Shame I can't sing, and I wouldn't say my alcohol problem could compare to Whitney's either. But hey, the crazy paintwork kind of disguised the way the walls were crumbling... sorta...

Back in London on Tuesday and it was time for goodbye drinks at O'Neils in Harrow. It was a good laugh, nice to catch up with people, sad to say goodbye to them. We went to Trinity, Harrow's indie club for a bit of a dance but didn't stay until closing time like usual, we had to catch the last tube back to our hostel. So it was goodbye to Harrow, but in true Harrow style the night was a lot of fun rather than melancholy... a good time was had by Australians and English alike. Our team, titled "Jane Austen was here (ask the Aussies)" even managed to come second in Big Dave's Big Quiz at the pub despite rubbishing our way through most of the questions and even not hearing some of them due to our own loud talking. Jane Austen got around Harrow as well, I think my uni friends thought Soph, Roz and I were slightly nuts. In a lovable kind of way.

So now the sun is setting at Heathrow, my internet credit is expiring, and they have just announced that my flight has been delayed by 15 minutes. Beautiful. Farewell London, I will miss you dearly.

SNAPSHOTS: Friends and fun

Some photos of friends playing around.



Ash and Fabian doing who knows what at Konstanz...



Roz, Ash and Soph at Piccadilly Circus




Yay at long last, a pint of Strongbow. My favourite. Cheers.



Soph tries on a petticoat at the V and A Museum




Roz and Ash make a call



Roz and Ash "playing" with the interactive displays at the V and A.

SNAPSHOTS: Italy and Spain

The spires of Gaudi's Sangria Familia in Barcelona





Italians in Florence getting ready for the qualifying match against Germany in the World Cup.





Crazy coloured pasta in a Venice supermarket





The Colosseum in Rome





Me in a hollow tree trunk in the Black Forest in Germany. Why? Cos Fabian and Roz thought it would be a funny photo. Judge for yourself.





Floating markets in Venice





Me, Fabian and Roz in Germany




A more artistic shot of one of the spires of the Sangria Familia in Barcelona




Lollies at the markets in Barcelona. Yum!

London: Old friends, new friends, weirdos

Catching up with old friends in London is great, as is being here with old friends from home. Sitting in Weatherspoons in Harrow with two good pom friends and two good Aussie friends on each side of me and sharing many a laugh was a great way to spend a Friday night. Portobello markets and shopping on Oxford Street was a great way to spend a Saturday. Going out disco bowling was a great way to spend a Saturday night (especially as Joey was doing an absolutely smashing job of taking the piss of the guy in the lane next to us... he was wearing all white so he glowed in the dark and he was taking the whole thing way too seriously... he deserved to be gently mocked. I also can't forget the freaky gangster bouncers who ran the bowling alley... one of whom tried to hit on me when I got my bowling shoes). Camden markets (one of my favourite places in London) was a great place to spend a Sunday morning/afternoon.

As you are probably beginning to see, everything is quite lovely and great at the moment.

This afternoon though as we were chilling in Leicester Square (where we had earlier been approached another day by a strange old man who said "hello young girls will you drink with me" argh!) we were sitting and chatting when this cocky young lad approached us with a toy mobile phone and asked us for our telephone numbers. We just laughed, he then dissapeared... he returned 5 minutes later to have a conversation with us, and then proceeded to tell us that he was the PR officer for this group he was with who were having lessons to improve their confidence in approaching women. Ah ha. We were laughing all the while. One of his friends (or classmates lol) decided to join us and we were chatting, then when they heard Roz likes doughnuts and hadn't had Krispy Kreme they insisted on taking us to the nearest Tescos express to get some. So we are walking with linked arms through London with these guys we only just met, talking shit and stuff (they were harmless, it was daytime, I knew where we were it was all good) to go to the supermarket. How random. Then we said our farewells... we have an inkling that they were trying to show their classmates at the pick up school that girls aren't that scary and that you can randomly approach them in Leicester Square and they will go with you to the supermarket without breaking your balls too much. We should have told them there was a disclaimer... we only went with them cos they weren't too freaky, had cute accents and were reasonbly good looking haha. I don't know if some of their other friends from pick up school would have had the same luck... its a cruel cruel world. It was very funny none the less... rather mysterious, but what a laugh.

London: Back in your arms again

I'm back in the arms of this crazy city, the jungle of coloured lines on the underground map, the congestion of double decker buses, and whatever exists in between all those stately buildings that makes me love this place, and makes me not really want to leave it...

We are having fun, a bit tired today, but we did sightsee for nearly 12 solid hours yesterday. We had a lot of good laughs, watching changing of the guard, going to the V&A museum and playing with all the interactive stuff, chilling in parks with our Boots lunch, seeing Harrods, wandering around Leicester Square and central London at night after partaking our currys at the local Spoonies (Thursday night is Curry night! Curry and a pint for under 5 quid, good stuff!)with the lights dancing and the balmy (for England) breeze to cool us down.

Today we were quite tired, went and saw Tower Bridge, walked down to St Pauls and Tate Modern, ate Marks and Sparks food on the church steps... Roz and Soph went to Westminster Abbey, I went to window shop and catch up with a London friend Ross. It was awesome to see him, and I do want to try and catch up with as many people as possible while I am here, but argh I don't really feel like leaving... well nobody ever wants their holidays to end, I will just have to get over it haha.

It's funny cos Roz and Soph think I have an English accent now, but when I told Ross they thought that he burst in to laughter declaring that I don't sound English at all. I wonder what everyone back home will think, I honestly don't think I have an accent, but I probably use some phrases I wouldn't have used before I left.

I've posted up heaps of my photos now on Flickr from Spain, Italy and Germany. Check them out, I might post some of the better ones on here. It's been so long since I've been able to upload photos so I had so many to upload.

London: Back to where it all began

So my trip has almost come full circle... well, circle isnt the best word to decide the route I took around Europe but hey. I'm back in London, which is cool but weird... it's quite strange to stay in a hostel in a city where I so recently had a home... and it's even more strange to come to the slow and gradual realization that its back to reality next week... my plane sets down in Sydney on Friday week. Eeek. Mixed feelings about that one.

We had a great time in Munich, we did this fantastic free walking tour aimed at backpackers with great guides who worked only for tips. It was so fun, and very interesting, they told the history in such a fun way.

But London is cool, its familiar now, and once again I am playing tour guide for my friends. The coolest thing is that we now have three Albury girls in London, an amazing feat, especially considering that we have zero to nil organizational skills. Its very cool to have the three of us together again, on the other side of the world.

Once Soph recovers from her jetlag (she is completely zonked out in bed now haha) we shall set about exploring London... again for me haha.

Germany: A flying update

I have really been so slack with my blogging! Tonight we have free wifi at the hostel so I have finally been able to upload some more photos to Flickr and blog and natter on to London friends about crap.

Well, we did Rome. Twas fun. Old stuff... ruins... camping... great pasta salad... hot... went on a bus... queued for ages to get in to the Vatican in the heat and it just reaffirmed my personal beliefs about the church but had to be seen... bought fake designer sunglasses from funny men who would run away when they saw a police car. Good times.

Slept in an airport, then flew to Germany. Then caught a bus and three trains and met my friend from uni Fabian (from henceforth known as Mr Schramberg) picked us up and drove us to his beautiful hometown where we were treated to a weekend of fabulous food and lots of fun. We went out the first night with two of his friends and got quite smashed due to having to try the local brews. Not the best way to impress his parents quite possibly but they were so so sweet! We went to Lake Constance, the weather was amazing and we went for a fun swim... we drove to Switzerland to buy cheaper petrol which was amazing for us Australians due to its bizarreness... I mean, going to a different country to get petrol... WTF!!!

We chilled out, ate more amazing food, met Fabians grandparents who were so so sweet as well. The next day we went driving through the Black Forest which was so gorgeous. It was so green it almost didnt look real... like one of those photos in Lonely Planet that you look at and go nah, thats been photoshopped. But it was right there... we explored waterfalls, cuckoo clock shops and ate Black Forest cake... it was loads of fun. It was really awesome to see Fabian again and also to experience real German life and meet his family rather than just do the same old tourist sightseeing stuff. So great, Roz and I both loved it.

Now we are in Munich briefly, and are heading back to London tomorrow night. It's almost home time, I have under two weeks left before I return to Oz! Exciting news though, I have a house to live in, so thats one less worry when I get back. All I need now is a job and furniture. Oh, and a life plan. She'll be right.

Italy: Internet deprivation

The internet is too expensive for me to use in Italy... noooooooo! Here are a few short tales from the last week or so.

1. Storm in Florence- so we were loving camping in Florence. So much that we cancelled our hostel in Rome and booked camping. We handwashed all our clothes and hung them out on trees... at one with nature... to dry. Then the storm came and it pissed down. Our roof started to collect water and cave in... we had to gather together all our possessions and dash up the muddy hill at 5am in the morning for fear of being waterbombed by our own tent roof. Then I fell over on the patio to make things more fun. What an adventure! Our friendly tent neighbours had it worse though, their tent had no poles due to a travel partner (who had the poles) withdrawing from the adventure at very late notice. They slept on the cold hard concrete floor of the laundry.

2. Train to Venice- We caught the train to Venice after our camping adventure and were fortunate enough to be sandwiches between two angsty american teens who were upset because they had no idea what they were doing with their lives despite being just 19 and who were on some water detox diet, and a bizarre couple from Bologna who fully were making out next to us on the train and were trying to hide people who didnt have tickets under the seats. Crazy.

3. Venice coolness- We stumbled upon our hostel in Venice which was awesomely located in a square in the student area away from the hordes of american tourists who cant say anything but "omigod would you look at that"! The local pizzeria downstairs from our hostel sold massive slices of tasty pizza for 1.80 euro and there were several cheap and tasty gelaterias to choose from. The local kids played soccer in the square and we went out one night with two English girls and we were actually at bars where locals go rather than tourist traps. Venice was very beautiful... so much cool stuff though, so little money!

4. Supermarket in Venice- Roz and I were talking in the supermarket in Venice. A middle ages american woman comes up to us "oh wow its so good to hear people speaking English!". I dont know what part of Venice she had been in. You heard more english than italian there... even the checkout chick spoke perfect English. Note: I am not anti American. They just annoy me sometimes.

5. Football/soccer- so Italy was in the final of the World Cup. We sat in our square watching the locals get prepared... peoples dogs were dressed in Totti and Toni team shirts and the atmosphere was fun. We didnt see much of the match as Roz got befriended by a small German girl who was still cheering for Deutchland and who kept on sharing her rice crackers with us. We didnt speak any German, she didnt speak any English, yet we managed to play some sort of pretend photo taking game and she also ran off to get her sunglasses from her mum at one stage cos we both had sunnies on our head. So cute, so bizarre, so funny. Then the Italians won, and as we walked to the train station to catch our night train to Rome we saw them going nuts... jumping in to the canals (which are a funny unhealthy looking green colour) from bridges and speeding up and down in their boats with flags waving and screaming and horns and everything. It was quite cool.

Now we are in Rome, really tired after night train, but our camping ground is pretty cool.

And this is all the internet I can afford, so ciao readers!

Italy: Bella Italia!

Roz and I have arrived in Italy... just in time to watch the match which means Italy qualified for the World Cup final. Florence went nuts... they were all watching it at a big screen near our camping ground, on their Vespas, and then after the game car horns were beeping, fireworks were going off and italian flags were waving. It was absolutely nuts. I secretely was going for the Germans... very secretely. I know where the style of the Italian footballers comes from... the dramatic way the fans watched the game gave some indication of why the Azuri fall over any time a player even looks at them funny. I dont like their style, I wanted to scream "get up you pansies!" at a few points but decided against it due to the make up of the crowd.

Florence is really beautiful, we spent today walking around checking it out. Camping is OK, its really hot during the day, but at night being in a tent is actually cooler than being in an unairconditioned hostel. Yesterday we saw the Leaning Tower at Pisa after flying here from Barcelona. We were very tired after our night sleeping at Girona airport, but we survived, even though we were carrying our packs through Pisa to quickly check it out. I have bruises on my arms though from the plastic airport seats.

The food here is amazing... not just the prices haha the taste. Today I had some Bruscetta with the most amazing tomatoes I have ever tasted in my life, followed by some pretty bloody good gelati. Bella!

Its funny people watching at the camping ground. There is a couple staying near us who have a very strange relationship where they fight loudly in Italian, then make out under the tree, then go in to their little tent and then the whole thing starts rocking. If the tent is a rocking, dont come a knocking. I think they may be travelling with kids on their next camping trip.

Spain: Barcelona beats

Yesterday we went sightseeing... in the afternoon we took in the amazing colours and tastes of the local produce market, then in the evening, after googling "cheap Flamenco barcelona" we were sitting in an intimate little bar in the heart of Barcelona with a few handfuls of both locals and tourists for just a mere 5 euro watching an amazing Flamenco show. The male performers were so passionate, the beats were so strong, it was really powerful and there was something very organic about the whole experience. The locals clapped, there were calls of "Ola!" when the dances reached high levels of intensity and children danced around in the bar as their parents drank beer and sangria.

We went with two lovely Canadian girls from the hostel who were keen on celebrating Canada day... we bought some drinks and went back to the seedy hostel we are staying in where there was a party raging already that the poor security guard had no hope of quietening down. When we all finally got turfed out of the common room (go to street or go to sleep was what the security guard told us in adorable broken English) we just wandered. We were trying to go to bars but the group movement was too slow and we ended up spending the whole night in the streets of Barcelona, having conversations while sitting in gutters, walking down to the pier, and just soaking up the amazing atmosphere. At 5am in the morning the streets were still full... Las Ramblas never ever sleeps. We got back to out hostel around 5 where we tried to have a sleep in the stifling sweaty room. Im still surprised I got in to my bunk so quietly in the dark, Im on the top and there is no ladder, it´s quite a feat.

Barcelona is an awesome city though, I love it.

Spain: It never rains...

The rain in Spain has not yet fallen on the very dry plains but the proverbial rain is pouring for me... something is wrong with one of my uni subjects with the final essay I handed in and I don´t know what, someone stole my towel at the hostel (thank god it was only my towel), its very hot and my room mates were assholes last night. Roz and I also had our sheets taken off our bed(which we had to pay to hire), our washing got locked outside on the patio which was annoying and yeah.

On the plus side, Barcelona is a beautiful place and I know why this city is well loved. Today we visited that never ending construction site that is Gaudi´s cathedral Sangria Familia. It was very interesting indeed, and from the top we got great views of Barca. Tonight we are trying to go to a cheap Flamenco show with people from the hostel and we are hoping that it works out.

We came up here from Valencia where we stayed one night in a hostel that´s only flaw was its lack of airconditioning. Valencia was a pretty nice place as well, and the bus ride to Barcelona was comfortable, except Roz and I were laughing the whole way at the bus driver who was trying to pull a girl sitting down the bus... he looked like a soapie star... as in blonde hair, too much tan, mid 30s. It was funny, it kept us in stiches even though we didnt speak a word of Spanish to hear what he was saying. The body language said it all.

We caught the train to Valencia from Madrid and since we wanted to save dosh we caught the regional train that took 7 hours and stopped in every little town along the way. It was interesting, the landscape is very desert like and catching the train gives you some insight in to the real Spain outside of the tourist centres. So far Roz and I are enjoying ourselves despite my recent dramas. We are sleeping at an airport on Monday night so that should be interesting, then once we get to Florence, we are staying at a camping ground. Haha. Sometimes its more fun on a shoestring despite the setbacks.

Spain: Barcelona via Valencia

Im now in Barcelona after spending a night in lovely Valencia... Im very sleep deprived as our hostel is extremely loud, and so are the people in our dorm. They are extremely inconsiderate and like their beer.

I cant properly update cos I am running low on credit and I am stressed because there seems to be some sort of problem with my assessment for one of my university subjects from exchange. Argh. Maybe later.