Wednesday, February 8th, 2006
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10:05 am - Other things...
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Just trying to remember what else I'd been upto and remembered that Mark took me to the Lake district one weekend it was so magical the sun was shining and the lakes were so beautiful. We stayed at a hostel in Ambleside (was to help us get used to the hostels in Europe) and went on a boat in Lake Windermere.
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9:59 am - Still in the UK...
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Well I've finally backdated my Europe Trip. I will also backdate a trip I did to Ireland in March 2005. I will also make sure I include a future trip in a couple of weeks time... I'm going to EGYPT!!! Its been so long since I last updated my journal so I thought I'd just update it with the best bits!
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Sunday, October 23rd, 2005
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9:54 am - EUROPE 2005
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Got up about 7am. Didn’t have much sleep as a guy in our dorm was snoring. Couldn’t see any trams so started walking to the train station in the rain. Finally saw some so waited and hopped on one. Then caught double decker train to airport. Had an uneventful check in and fly home. We were just very exhausted.
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Saturday, October 22nd, 2005
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9:53 am - EUROPE 2005
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Spent today looking at the shops in Amsterdam including bookshops, souvenir shops and anything else that looked interesting. Had a nice relaxing meal at the hostel again in the evening, I finished mine off with a nice Irish Coffee.
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Friday, October 21st, 2005
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9:53 am - EUROPE 2005
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We said goodbye to Craig and travelled to Amsterdam today. We walked all the way to Brugge train station in the rain. On the train to Amsterdam, we met two Canadian guys who we were out with at Bruges the other night. When we got to Amsterdam, we had a meal at the hostel. We then went out and had a quick look at the Red Light District before going on a waltzer ride at a funfair in Dam Square.
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Thursday, October 20th, 2005
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9:52 am - EUROPE 2005
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We slept in today after last night then went to the Choco-story museum in the afternoon. We learnt about the history of chocolate and about the cocoa tree and how chocolate is made. We also got to sample some! We then walked around town and looked at shops. I bought some chocolate for myself and some gifts for my friends. We then chilled out at the main square and watched the horse & carts before heading back to the hostel. Had pizza for tea at the hostel.
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Wednesday, October 19th, 2005
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9:52 am - EUROPE 2005
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We headed into Brussels today for a day trip. We saw some Liverpool fans as their football team was playing a Belgium team tonight. They were being very rowdy. We had waffles from the waffle factory (a little shop) as well with warm chocolate sauce. We also saw another bin dipper while we were eating our waffles. We then intended to go to the Musical Instruments museum but took a wrong turn and ended up at the Palais of Justice. We did get there eventually though and enjoyed listening to the different excerpts of music. After that we went back to Bruges and spoke to some nice ladies on the bus. Had tea at Quick again. Saw people singing Scottish songs – think it was some kind of Scottish/Belgium sister schools. Decided to go to the bar for a drink and ended up chatting to our roommates and some other guys. We learnt that one of our roommates Fog was an American professional beatboxer and the other Craig was an ice hockey player from Canada. We ended up going to another hostel with them where we played a few games of pool and had a few drinks.
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Tuesday, October 18th, 2005
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9:50 am - EUROPE 2005
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Today we travelled from Paris to Bruges. It only took 2 to 3 hours so we ended up in Bruges quite early and went for a stroll around town looking at all the shops. We weren’t sure about what bus to get from the train station so we just hopped on one and hoped for the best. We decided that we liked Bruges, it was a beautiful town and the people are nice.
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Monday, October 17th, 2005
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9:50 am - EUROPE 2005
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Started today off at the Eiffel Tower. We walked through a park with a lovely view of the tower then went to the summit of the tower and enjoyed the views. After that we went to Arc De Triomphe, admired the view but decided not to pay for the priviledge of being on the other side of the roundabout. We then walked down the Champs Ellyses and looked at the posh shops. After that we went to the Notre Dame and saw the Gemdarmerie (the French SWAT team) on the way there. We lit a candle at the Notre Dame. We also had a good look at the Ils de Paris before having lunch at a café in the Latin Quarter. Tthen we went to La Defense and saw the Grande Arch. Later on we went to Blanche and saw the Moulin Rouge as well as a bit of the Red Light district. We had tea at a McDonalds/KFC style place called Quick right next door to the Moulin Rouge.
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Sunday, October 16th, 2005
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9:49 am - EUROPE 2005
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Went to the Louvre firstly today where we saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and then wandered around the Greek and Egyptian antiques. Then we went to the Galleries Lafayette which was a French equivalent of Selfridges. We then found a good deal for lunch (as food is quite expensive in Paris) and sat near the river while we ate. After that we went to the Centre George Pompidou and saw the modern art museum. We did an invisible labyrinth exhibition there which was fun. We then went to cite (science & technology museum), it was pretty mad with a band playing and a parade. We came back to the hostel and had pizza from a takeaway down the road. The guy who served us was taking photos of his mouth.
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Saturday, October 15th, 2005
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9:49 am - EUROPE 2005
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We travelled to Paris today. It was pretty uneventful on the train except at one point the engine swapped ends so we went from being at the front of the train to the back. We had Chinese for tea in Paris. While we were in the restaurant, we saw this protest of about 200 people with about 20 police vehicles, mostly vans but at least a couple of double decker buses.
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Friday, October 14th, 2005
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9:48 am - EUROPE 2005
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Today we were meant to travel all the way to Paris via Frankfurt. We arrived in Frankfurt after an 8 hour train journey and then decided to stay the night in Frankfurt and leave later tomorrow instead of spending the night on a train. We booked a twin private room with ensuite in a hotel just across the road from the main train station with a free breakfast included. It was worth it compared to uncomfortable seats on the train overnight. We also reserved our tickets for the journey tomorrow.
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Thursday, October 13th, 2005
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9:47 am - EUROPE 2005
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We visited Schonbrunn Palace today. We bought the classic pass which included a grand tour of the house (40 of the rooms) with a free audio guide, mazes and watching the apple strudel show. There was a Chinese guy who was loving it, he was standing in the guard box with a huge grin on his face because all his mates were taking photos of him. Mark was feeding the small birds out of his hand at the café. We helped a woman and her daughter finish the maze as we were on the platform so we pointed where to go. In the evening we went back to Schonbrunn Palace to watch the Schonbrunn Schlosskonzerte play classical music from Mozart and Strauss. This slso included dancing and soloist singers and was held in the Great Galleria in Schonbrunn Palace where the emperor used to entertain his guests.
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Wednesday, October 12th, 2005
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9:47 am - EUROPE 2005
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Today, we went to the Museums Quartier in Vienna and saw the Modern Art museum. The top floors were very good but as we worked our way down, the bottom floors started to become quite graphic and disturbing. Afterwards we went to the Park Stadt and saw the Strauss statues, then we walked down the leafy park ring before going to St Stephens cathedral where we lit a candle each. The water we drank in Vienna was from the alps. We then browsed the shops and bought some tickets for a classical concert. Onwards to Prater (fun park) where we saw the Riesenrad ferris wheel but we went on the other ferris wheel and had a second turn for free. We then went on a Sombrero waltzer (Ole ole ole ole).
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Tuesday, October 11th, 2005
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9:46 am - EUROPE 2005
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Wandered through the centre of Mestre to get some supplies for our train journey. We then waited in the station for a few hours for our train and then travelled on the train for 7 hours to Vienna through these lovely mountains and tunnels. We kept getting asked questions in Italian by random people (had to keep explaining we were English).
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Monday, October 10th, 2005
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9:46 am - EUROPE 2005
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Went for a day trip to Verona. Strolled around for a while, was quiet and relaxing. Saw the pink marble arena from the outside then bought some reading books from one of the shops. We then saw Juliet’s balcony and saw Sant’ Anastasia, this beautiful big gothic church. There was an old homeless guy wandering around there rambling. Lastly we went to the Castel vecchio where there was a museum and we saw lots of paintings of Jesus. Mark rang one of the bells (naughty!).
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Sunday, October 9th, 2005
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9:45 am - EUROPE 2005
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We spent today in central Venice. We obtained a day pass for the water buses which we used a lot. Firstly we went to San Marco Square where we had delicious ice-creams (I had mint choc chip, strawberry, vanilla and meringue) and watched the silly people feeding the pigeons. We did not pay 60 euros for a gondola ride! We watched the Gondolas getting rocked about by the water buses going past instead. We saw water taxis, water ambulance, water police and water rubbish collectors! We also saw the bridge of Sighs and St Marks Basilica. We then went to the Lido and saw the beach. After that we went out to the islands, and had a look at the cathedral in Torcello.
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Saturday, October 8th, 2005
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9:45 am - EUROPE 2005
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We travelled from Rome to Venice on the train. We arrived at the wrong train station as our hostel was actually one station out of central Venice at Mestre. We finally found our hostel with the use of a map, then walked back to the station and had McDonalds for tea before having an early night in bed.
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Friday, October 7th, 2005
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9:44 am - EUROPE 2005
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We spent today in the Vatican City. We waited in a very long queue for the Vatican museum but met some nice germans in front of us in the line. When we went inside we walked through room after room of many beautiful and extravagant rooms and eventually finished up in the Sistine chapel which was awe inspiring. We then wandered over to the Basilica St Pietro, queued for a long time again (in the rain this time) for the dome. We climbed up lots of steps (300+) but we were rewarded by the amazing view inside the Basilica and outside of the city of Rome. When we were back on ground level we had a quick look around the Basilica as well. Had our tea at a cosy Italian restaurant Piccolo Buco and had pizza and gelato. We then saw the Trevi fountain at night.
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Thursday, October 6th, 2005
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9:35 am - EUROPE TRIP 2005
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Today we firstly went to the colloseum. There were some scrawny gladiator guys asking if we want photos with them. We kept getting asked if we wanted to go on guided tours, we weren’t going to go but it ended up being cheaper for us as we were EU citizens under 25 and it jumped the long queue. The guide was interesting even if not everything he was saying was true. We then went to the Roman Forum, was a bit of a let down with no signs explaining what things were and scaffolding used as fences. We also saw the Arch of Constantine. We went to a big white marble building (Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II) and had lunch there. It was raining and we kept getting hassled by umbrella salesmen on the street saying “Umbrella?”. We then went to the Pantheon and to Piazza Navona. We walked to the River Tevere and crossed the river at Ponte Sant Angelo where we saw the castle. We then walked to the Spanish steps and raced up them.
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