And we're back

More info and photos soon.... :-)

Hamburg!

We are in Hamburg, Germany!

I have finally made it here to visit my Hamburgian mate, Jon. :-)
Jon and I went to school in 1998-9 while he was in Australia on student exchange. We have kept intouch and he has visited Australia a few more times since, but this is my first time to recipricate.

His parents, Hans and Margarit, are kindly hosting us at their house, which makes for a much for relaxing and enjoyable stay.

Our first night here we went out (of course) and had some beers and shots. We visited the famous Reeperbahn, which is a street in Hamburg´s famous red-light district.

Luke's favourite street

Located in Burgdorf, Switzerland.

:-)

Cheers,
Paul.

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

Hi all,

Tonight (27th Sept) we're staying at the Sherwood Forrest YHA in a small village called Edwinstowe, which is about 15 miles from Nottingham. The Sherwood forrest is to one side of the town and hopefully we'll get to walk through it tomorrow. This afternoon when we arrived it was drizzling so we drove to Nottingham to visit the oldest pub in England. It was established in 1189 AD.

It is a small shopfront which backs onto the sandstone foundations of the Castle of Nottingham. Once through the doors though, you can see that it has been tunnled into the stone (probably originating as a cave). It has a lot of character although it can only fit a small number of people. There we're 3 levels that we could see, but there may be more hidden or below ground level.

Souvenir shirts we bought and I also purchased some playing cards. A mate we met on Contiki, Craig, is collecting cards from each of the places he visits. A great idea and a small lightweight souvenir is quickly becoming the best idea yet.

They have their own tradional ale (non carbonated) called 'ye olde trip' which is the nicest real ale I've had so far. We ate there while waiting for the rush hour to subside. I had a lasagne and Luke had the lamb wrap. Not exactly traditional fare, but we had the steak and ale pie last night in Edmundbyers.

Take care of yourselves guys and gals.

Cheers,
Paul.

Edinburgh Castle

Hi all,

Yesterday (26th Sept) we visited Edinburgh Castle and walked the Royal Mile. The castle is mostly set aside as a museum now and is quite well preserved. It cost £11 to enter and a further £3 for a audio guide. These audio guides are used all over Europe and the UK. We saw them in the Vatican and used them at Stonehenge.

The castle was very interesting, and very cold; probably around 7 degrees in the shade and much lower in the wind. The Crown Jewels of Scotland are kept here (sorry no photos allowed) and there is an interesting story about how they were hidden to prevent them from falling into the hands of invading armies. The Scottish War Memorial is also in the castle grounds and we found the Fox and Barnard names on the list of fallen during the First World War.

Last night we stayed in perhaps the oldest building being used as a YHA in the UK. We chanced upon it while looking for a town with a laundromat (a rare commodity). It is located in Edmundbyers, and was built in the 1600s and has had many uses of the years. The YHA bought it in 1936. It is run by Bob and Janet, two lovely people who were very accomodating. We were able to get a 3 person dorm room to ourselves as they we not very busy.

We drove to the town of Barnard Castle today and visited the ruins of the castle there. This was quite interesting as the original castle was built in the 1200s. We took some obligatory photos and video footage and then started driving further south.

Cheers,
Paul.

Scotland

I know, I've been very slack with the posts.

We are currently in Scotland. Home to haggis and kilts. Unfortunately, it is just as expensive as everywhere else in the UK. At this point, Luke and I are running very low on cash and reconsidering the rest of the trip. We knew the UK would be expensive, but..... jeez, you really need to be earning the £ over here.

It is day 6 of the car hire. We have been to Exeter, Goodrington, Swansea and Blackpool. The highlight for me so far was catching up with Dennis Jenner in Goodrington. His brother-in-law Robert invited us around for the night for pasta, beer and wine. A good time was had by all I think.

Take care everyone, more updates soon.

Cheers,
Paul.

London

Well, we're back in London at the moment. We're staying at Chris and Jo's place in Kingston Upon Thames. It is great to catch up with them and have a great BBQ and some drinks. We've been here two nights and head off today to pick up our hire car and start the UK leg of our journey.

Everyone on the Contiki tour came down with some form of cough/cold/flu. It has hit me pretty hard, but the meds should take care of it.

Sorry about being slack with the posts, but it's been a rushed trip and has been hard to remember what/where we were each day. I don't think I'd do another Contiki for that reason.

I'm really starting to miss people back home.

Take care all,
Paul.

Contiki Day 7 - Florence to Rome

We spent the morning in Florence doing a walking tour and learning about Florentine Leather and gold.

We then had some free time so I had my caricature drawn. It took 3 minutes and cost €15. It's a bit of a laugh.

It may be had to see in the photo, but what is very prevalent in Europe is placing a printed screen over scaffolding on buildings, so that from a distance (and even up close) the building appears as normal. Most of the ones I've seen have had a we designed respectful advertisment on them. Almost art-like. I think this may be how the printed screens are funded.

I tried using earplugs last night to block out Luke's snorning. It was unsuccessful.

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 6 - French Riviera to Florence

Today we enter Italy. We saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We also saw the biggest concentration of gypsies and people illegally selling handbags. The highlight was watching them roll up their piece of cloth with their wares on it and running from the police.

Everyone was taking photos of either pushing over or holding up the tower.... Got a bit old... We didn't do it.

Seeing so much so quickly is becoming overwhelming. There is sooo much history and I don't think I'm doing it justice. We racing around these places trying to see as many of the sites as possible in our free time; rather than relaxing in a nice café and watching the locals.

We had a tuscan dinner with about 4 courses consisting of bruschetta, different pastas, cheese, desert all accompanied by chianti wine; the regions specialty. It was quite good. The waiters were amazing, carrying up to 9 meals at a time.

We followed up our meal by going to The Red Garter, a kareoke club. Beers were drunk by the stein. Songs were sung. Luke sang YMCA.... There are photos.

Did I mention Luke snores?

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 5 - Monaco

The night of day 5 we drove to the principality of Monaco. Being a Sunday night it was not overly busy, but there was still plenty of nice expensive cars lined up out front.

Not many people on the tour enjoyed Monte Carlo as it was very expensive. The cheapest beer was €7 or $14AUD. Yeah.... We weren't that thirsty.

The strangest sight was the numerous defibrilators positioned on the streets of monte carlo. Possibly there have been a few deaths induced by the price of beer.

I put €20 in the Star Wars pokies and won €31. Another member of our tour won a few hundred.

The cabins that we stayed in were pretty good. And the ammenities were the best so far.

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 5 - French Riviera

Today we went to a perfumery and then had a free day in Nice... It was very Nice :-p

I walked around Nice for a while and bought some lunch, then went and lay on the beach for an hour and had a well needed sleep. Last night was not so quiet. :-)

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 4 - Beaujolais Wine Region to French Riviera

Today was our first swim for the aussie summer.... In the Mediterranean Sea! Top that ladies and gentlemen. It is a rest night tonight and a chance to do some washing. I'm sure a few drinks will be had though. Beer is €4 a pint. Kronenberg and Heinekin appears to be the popular drink here.

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 3 - Paris to Beaujolais

We had a themed party tonight. It was 'tight and bright'. And it was :-)

Some very funny photos resulted as most of the blokes to advantage of the local markets and purchased women's clothing. It must be said that the guys went to more of an effort than the ladies.

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki Day 2 - Paris

Allo! Day 2 was a free day in Paris. We walked around and visited the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees and the Louvre.

Last night we had dinner at a french restaurant and then went to a fantastic caberet show. The photo above was taken on the walk to the caberet show. Unfortunately, photos of the show are not permitted, but it was very entertaining. The dancing was interspaced with a comedy act.

Oh, we also had garlic snails on day 1. They're a bit chewey but not too bad. Last night though, Lawrence ate an entire snail (shell and all) on a dare. He lived through the experience.

Cheers,
Paul.

Contiki - day 1

We've just got moving on the bus for first time. 7.25am here. Been up since 5am. Haven't had breakky yet. No jet lag today though, which is fantastic. Had a few pints last night and met some people on the tour. Bus is mostly aussies. We're on our way from London to Dover, then to Calais and Paris.

Yesterday we went on the london eye (big ferris wheel), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London.

All in all, the British are not very helpful and things are very expensive. Most helpful guy was a delivery driver who pointed us in the right direction of the Thames.

Cheers,
Paul.

Day 1: London

Well, we're here folks. We are yet to have a beer on foreign soil though....

Stay tuned.

departure

Well this is it folks. First leg of our trip: Brisbane to Sydney...

London here we come.

Cheers,
Paul.

Updated Itinerary

Any updated itinerary is now on luke's blog

Only days to go, and we are still to pack. We'll try to sort that out tonight.

EuroTrip 2007

Only weeks to go now. Looking forward to it in the most part; although I'm going to miss my girl. We're away for six weeks. For more info, look at Luke's blog.

The package is in the open

Our order from GoGoGear arrived today. The people there were so helpful; they also wrote a friendly note on the parcel. Plus they have free shipping!!!

The order contained:

• Waterproof Invisible Playing Cards
• Leather Australian Passport Covers
• Pegless Clothes Line With Mesh Bag
• Roman Palm I Sleeping Bag - Set of 2
• Design Go Snoozer Pillow
• Led Lenser V2 Key Finder
• Sleep Mask Blindfold

To add to this, I have
a new 80 litre backpack (given to me by my wonderful girlfriend Trish)
a travel/sports towel (pretty much a 100cmx50cm chamois)
a compressed spray jacket
a multi-tool
a LED light

Yes, indeed... this will be a good trip.