Our alarms went off at 6:30am on Thurs 14th April to prepare us for our 6:56am arrival at Roma Tiburtina. We actually got there after 7:45am though so we spent that time watching the stations closely and wondering why the countryside was still countryside. The light was was really nice as we came in. Once we arrived, we bought 3-day travel tickets and got the train to Termini station, and failed to find tourist info. We followed directions to our hostel - luckily a short, easy walk. We checked in about 9am, left our luggage and we able to take advantage of free breakfast there: cold drinking chocolate, the same weird cereal as in Milan, not great bread but nice jam, and juice. We got a couple of maps from reception and were told where the tourist place at the station was. We went there on the way to Barbarini (?) station and got some brochures.
From the station, we found our way to Trevi Fountain - you know, the one from The Lizzie Maguire Movie! We experienced how busy Rome was from the moment we came up from the underground - especially after Venice and its no cars! You never know when you can cross the road safely... if you walk out onto a zebra crossing, cars generally stop but it was scary! We were back to more normal, less pretty buildings too.
In front of the fountain we sang 'This is what dreams are made of' from the movie, very excitedly until my sunnies ended up in the fountain (all caught on video) but luckily I grabbed them before they totally sank. We all threw in a cent and I wished for an adventure just like Lizzie!
We walked to the Spanish Steps (via a FREE toilet - never thought we'd see that again); gorgeous to look up at and then, from the top, to look down over Rome. There were lots of stalls set up of paintings of Rome/caricatures of people. We went into the church at the top, gorgeous just like every other. We sat in the church and then halfway down the steps for a while, just too tired. There were horse carriages at the bottom of the steps and guys trying to give roses to everyone (and then demand money) very insistingly.
We walked past lots of pizza shops with deals on the way to the Pantheon, a huge temple. It was really pretty inside but very noisy - everything echoed despite signs everywhere about it's a sacred place be quiet yada yada. We got lunch at a place that offered pasta and a drink for €7 and no service charge. The waiter kept telling us 'you get a good plate of pasta' but really it wasn't very big. I had penne with tomato and basil sauce, and was so upset their cannelloni had meat in it! WTF! I reeeally wanted to get proper Italian cannelloni before we left but sadly, it didn't happen :(
We went back to the station, took the train then a bus to the Catacombs (burial sites), although I'm not sure we actually found them. We did come across a mausoleum or something, also free because of Cultural Week (we definitely chose to come at the right time!). A cute resident cat acted as tour guide and followed us around. The surrounding area was gorgeous, so different from the centre of Rome - tree-lined streets, lots of green and not many people. Although once we walked a bit down a quiet road we got to a fairly busy part. We took the bus and train back, on the bus with a bunch of lovely 60 year old German women who celebrate their milestone birthdays every decade by travelling somewhere as a group - one even had a cute story about meeting an Italian boy when she was young and staying in Italy for 3 years with him, and even catching up with him while they were there this time!
We went back to the hostel, went to our room, chose beds (top bunk this time for me), had a much-needed shower and had a quick nap before our free pasta dinner at 7pm. At dinner we chatted to a couple of American girls studying in Copenhagen. I hate to say I had 2 servings of pasta even though it wasn't that good - just penne with tomato sauce (and hardly any at that) but with chickpeas! We headed out around our area to find gelati for Janet (I was too full from din dins and wanted to have a day off after all the sweets from the last 2 days!). Back to the hostel, the others started using their free internet vouchers and I managed to nudge a precarious Twix out of the vending machine, yes I am a legend. Went to bed about 10pm.
Friday 15th April - got up and had breakfast about 9:15am, found out where the local supermarkets were, turned the wrong way a couple of times then thought one was closed before we found another entrance. We ended up just buying apples and a couple of other random things then went back to the station, via the hostel to use the toilet. At Termini, the train which would take us to Vatican City wasn't running so we caught a bus - after waiting for a few ridiculously crowded buses we actually got seats! We had no idea where to get off so we waited till we saw lots of people and big buildings. As usual we started wandering in the wrong direction but eventually found our way to St. Peter's Basilica and lined up for over an hour - the queue was huuuge, but we had eye candy ahead in the line to keep us entertained ;) Once we got inside, we didn't see the Pope's tombs or Cuppola (dome on the top of the church) but we went through the church. At this stage I was really getting over churches, even though it was amazing inside.
We headed towards restaurants, via souvenir shops where Caitlin & I bought Martin a sparkly I♥Roma keyring (which she proceeded to lose). We got €5 pizza (shared marinara (tomato & oregano) and margarita with Greer), the tomato sauce was really tasty. It was 3:30pm by the time we ate and I was starving, tired and with sore shoulders from a heavy bag and sore hip from who-knows-what. The Vatican museum closed at 4pm so we decided to go there the next day.
We walked back to the buses, had a very crowded ride back to Termini then took the train to the Colosseo station - walked outside and there was the Colosseum!!! Took some quick photos outside but then we rushed in just in case it closed anytime soon, since it was about 5:15pm by this time. We got in free - Cultural Week rocks! - and wandered around the edge a bit, went in and up even though the stairs said no climbing - uh, what? We were all pretty excited and took lots of photos. We saw lots of random cats walking around in the middle.
We headed back to the station and got back to the hostel about 6:45pm, ready for dinner at 7pm. It was the same as the night before plus spinach, chili and beans instead of chickpeas. Only had one serving this time. After dinner we asked at reception about any local gelati places they could recommend and followed an Aussie's directions only a few blocks away to Fassi's, the oldest gelati in Rome or something. It was much cheaper than any other place we'd seen (3 flavours in a cup or cone for €1,60). I got a cup with cherry (bits of skin made it beautiful), stracciatella (finally!) and creme caramel (just sweet). Janet finally got her tiramisu she'd been craving. The place was so big and bright and not too crowded and we just loved it.
We went back to the hostel, showered and got ready for bed. This new guy in our room got out a table, put out all his jewellery and tools and started making things, burning ends of threads and all, and apparently worked with the light on till midnight (glad I got to sleep)! He said he had to make 500 bracelets before Queen's Day in Amsterdam on April 30. Probably slept about 10:30pm.
On our last day in Italy (sad face!), Saturday 16th April, we got up at 7:30am, had breakfast (discovered drinking chocolate improves the weird cornflake-y cereal) and left about 8:50am. We went to the supermarket for rolls, salad and apples, then caught the train to Vatican City. We headed towards the museum, but came to the end of its queue about halfway around the second corner. We lined up about an hour in total, finally got inside but then had to line up for security checks (it is another country after all) and tickets. We went to the 'pinacoteca' first as it was right where we came in - gorgeous intricate eggs and jewels and frames. Then an Egyptian exhibition, with gorgeous ceilings and floors in all its rooms. We walked through a courtyard/Octagon, rooms of statues of Gods, painted ceilings, tapestries and finally to the Capella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) - we weren't allowed to take photos but almost everyone was. I decided to be respectful... We saw the famous fingers painting on the ceiling, and lots of others on the ceilings and walls, painted drapes and stained glass windows. It was very noisy though.
We were hungry and exhausted so we found our way outside, sat on the ground in the sun and ate lunch - big olive roll with salad for me, quite hard and not olive-y enough though. The sun got really hot after a while, I ended up lying down with a map covering my face. Another cat was nearby, what a surprise.
We went back inside, found an Aboriginal exhibition with some gorgeous photos, spears, headdresses, etc. We went to find the Rafaello exhibition near the Sistine Chapel but had to go all the way through the Chapel to get out which was hell. Eventually we made our way out of the chapel, Janet posted a postcard from the Vatican Post Office, and we walked down a spiral ramp/staircase to get out.
We trained to Termini then back to Colosseo station to find the Roman Forums. We found a nice big white building, took photos even though we weren't sure exactly what it was. The forums were next to it but we were so tired we just looked from above and didn't bother to walk through.
Back at the hostel, we asked reception about the bus to the airport tomorrow and whether they recommended any place for dinner. We headed to a nearby restaurant we were told would give us at least 10% off (ended up being less) and they didn't have cannelloni! So I got spinach and cheese tortellini with tomato sauce which was the closest thing but it wasn't big, warm or saucy enough!
We headed back to the gelati place from the night before and decided we could treat ourselves majorly since it was our last night - I got chocolate, blood orange and rice (like rice pudding texture) flavours, then a tartufo which was like a frozen mousse, delicious!
We checked out the bus stop for the morning, got toilet paper from the supermarket for Turkey, went back, used the computers, packed and got to bed at 11:30pm.
I just loved Italy, I think Venice was my favourite though - just so different from anywhere else!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Venice
Got up at 4:30am on Monday 11th April to get our bus at 5:30am. We checked out of the hostel and got to the bus stop with plenty of time. We followed a load of people from the bus to the station. We were there before 6am so we waited for the shops to open then went and got breakfast - I wanted a berry muffin but ended up with an apple one, clearly my Italian wasn't up to scratch (I thought pointing would be okay). It was fine but then I was a bit annoyed because the others found cheaper muffins.
Eventually we could board the train and discovered that luckily our seats - 61, 62, 63 and 68 - were all together. Slept a bit on and off but even with my inflatable (and constantly deflating) neck pillow it was pretty uncomfortable. It was pretty cool when we drove over all the water separating Venice from the mainland, it seemed to go on forever. At the station we used the toilets (had to pay - should have gone on the train!) then bought 72 hour vaporetto (water bus) tickets and got some info from the tourist office. We found the vaporetti, caught one to San Toma' with our mouths pretty much open the whole time at how beautiful everything was and found our hostel with directions from the website. After ringing the doorbell a voice came from above and welcomed us, and the front door clicked open. We came into a sort of inside courtyard that led to a set of stairs which we followed. We paid and left our bags since we were before check-in time again. Oh and the hostel door opened right onto a little canal!
We had a bit of a walk around, took photos with little bridges which are everywhere just like the canals (there are more than 500 in the whole of Venice!). We found a supermarket and bought another healthy lunch to share - salad, cheese, rolls and apples - and ate at the top of a couple of steps which led right into one of the canals. Lots of gondolas went past, some of the gondoliers singing (apparently costs more) and a cute dog who was lying in the street came to say hello when we sat down (another earlier jumped up and licked my fingers, so sweet!). There were so many glass/bead/Carnevale mask shops/street stalls everywhere. The masks were amazing, I seriously wanted one but had no idea how I would get it through the rest of Italy, Turkey and back to High Wycombe. It was so easy to get lost because there are just narrow lanes, footbridges, canals and old, coloured buildings everywhere. We were trying to find our way to Piazza San Marco but failed majorly; we couldn't even find any nearby streets on the map! We found a fruit market and a long strip along the Grand Canal with lots of market stalls. We caught the vaporetto - sat out on the back deck with a really good view - to San Marco instead (first the wrong way, it's a bit hard when the start and end points of the route are both the same). We saw the Basilica and Doge's Palace (but Janet & I weren't appropriately dressed to go inside either of them) and some tall building which you can take a lift up and see over Venice. It was so much more crowded there than where the hostel is. We sat down at one end of the Piazza (square) near these stupid French kids who were throwing their bags at massive groups of pigeons before luring them back with bread and sending them flying again.
We headed back to the hostel to put our bags in our room, then got back on the vaporetto just to relax for while. We were trying to read about buildings as we went past but got on the wrong way again so that was confusing. We saw the open water which we'd come over on the train, the southern island with totally different buildings and a MASSIVE ship. We arrived back at San Marco then walked back to the hostel via raspberry gelati (cheaper than Milan). We got back about 7pm and dinner, which we'd paid for, wasn't till 8:30pm so we chatted with some of the girls in our room, mainly Americans. We also found out we were 2 beds short so one girl moved into another room and the guy working there just pulled out another bed from the cupboard and eventually got us linen. We were then told that dinner was going to be half an hour late but we didn't get our gorgonzola risotto until 9:15pm! It was reeeally good though. Then we got warm, crispy roll with bruschetta, and blueberry strudel thing for dessert. It was all very tasty and the atmosphere was really nice, chatting to all the Americans and another Aussie along a long table. Unfortunately we were too tired after dinner to explore the nightlife; we went to bed about midnight.
We left just after 9am on our second day in Venice, Tuesday 12th April. We got brekky from a bakery where we'd bought olive bread the day before, this morning a very nice chocolate croissant. We took the vaporetto to San Marco, saw just about the only park area with benches on the whole of the island, then bought joint entry tickets for the Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, Archaeological Museum & some library archive. We spent 3 hours at the Doge's Palace: first in the Museo d'ell Opera with its big columns and statues; then in the Doge's apartment with lots of rooms and chambers where the senate and other councils held meetings; also the 'Bridge of Sighs' which led prisoners to their cells. The rooms were all incredible - carved wooden ceilings, tiled floors, tapestried walls, portraits, chandeliers and cabinets - but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside. We completed the circuit set out by the palace, waited ages behind a school group to use the toilet then headed next door to the basilica, this time dressed appropriately. This was stunning too but, again, no photos. The floors were especially gorgeous, and some of the patterns of the marble tiles almost seemed modern. We all bought some postcards and, although we were getting really hungry, we checked out the prices for the Campanile (clock tower). We didn't end up doing it but I was kind of regretting it. I think Venice would have been amazing to see from above.
We took the vaporetto to Rialto which was near where the Post Office was meant to be, since Dad demanded I send a postcard home from there. We found where the map said it was but it was totally shut up so we got lunch - a €3,50 cheese, lettuce & tomato roll for me, the others got €4 slices of pizza but then we found bigger pieces for €2,50! We sat on the edge of the Grand Canal and wrote our postcards. We saw an ambulance boat whizz past, siren and all, and that was only the second time it hit me that there were no cars in Venice! Which I thought was actually really great.
Janet and I bought expensive but amazingly delicious nougat and then headed to the Galleria Academia which some of the girls from the night before had told us was free because of Cultural Week (which you would have thought the tourist office might have mentioned). There were lots of rooms of paintings, some sculptures, lots of students sketching. It was nice, but tiring. The rooms had lovely ceilings and floors too, and there were even similar ceilings featured in some of the paintings.
We took the vaporetto back to San Marco to see if the other places our ticket got us entry to were open. The Museo Correr was and it turned out the archaeological museum and the library were adjoining. The rooms were breathtaking and again, photos weren't allowed. We saw paintings, maps, coins, busts and some great old photos of the canalside buildings.
We caught the vaporetto back to the hostel, found out dinner was going to be good so booked in for that again. The wifi kept going on and off which was a bit annoying. Dinner was almost as late as the night before but reeeeally good again - I ate way too much pesto pasta, arancini rice balls (same mix as the risotto) and fresh warm chocolate torte. I sat opposite a nice old Dutch guy and a young Russian girl (not together, don't worry). Again, we wanted to go out but we were too tired. Got to bed about midnight again.
We had an awesome last day - Wednesday 13th April - in Venice. We got up again at 8:30am and left about 9:15am, leaving our backpacks at the hostel. We tried to find the supermarket to get a healthier breakfast than the day before but we realised we'd kind of just come across it on Monday. I remembered a special pasty mentioned in one of my print-outs, so we found on the map that it wasn't too far from us and headed there. Contrary to what the article said, it wasn't crowded at all, so we all bought krapfen, cream filled donuts, for €1 - absolutely delicious!
We headed to San Marco on a vaporetto with a group of good-looking Italian guys and went to the open Post Office there to send our postcards. We then found the vaporetto which would take us to Murano, the glass-blowing island of Venice. It took a bit over half an hour, we saw a big park at the end of the main island and also went past the cemetery island. Once at Murano, we were directed to a free glass-blowing demonstration but it was almost finished when we got inside so it wasn't particularly exciting. We continued over to where they were selling things, from earrings to huge sculptures, cups, bowls and chandeliers. We all wanted everything. We kept walking around the island, along a canal, and saw so many more stalls and shops, a lot with similar stuff and often quite different prices - we discovered the first place was much more expensive than the rest. It was a bit cold and windy but still beautiful; the blue sky with its clouds looked as if it were painted. We got spinach and ricotta pastries for lunch then kept walking a bit more. Spent some money in a shop with lots of pendants. Crossed a little bridge across the canal, looked at some big blue glass star sculpture then walked back the way we came, on the opposite side of the canal. We checked if there was another glass-blowing demonstration as we had time till the vaporetto took us back but unfortunately we'd just missed the last one.
We sat on the edge of the island and tried to locate on the map the 'best Venetian gelati'. We were going to go straight to the Rialto station to find it, but we'd gotten quite cold by that stage so we went back to the hostel to get jackets and change into jeans. We found the supermarket somehow, stocked up on salad, rolls, cheeses and fruit for dinner, before going back to that morning's pastry shop for more. There was a lot less choice by this time but I got an apricot jam thing which was okay.
We took the vaporetto to the gelati place and I got nutella flavour - she first gave me coffee (I think because 'cup' sounds a bit like 'caffe') and then gave me 2 scoops when I only wanted one. Oh well, it was amazing of course.
We decided to chill in the Accademia gallery since it was free, they had free toilets (not like the public ones) and we could rest our feet and stay warm (we couldn't really stay at the hostel since we'd already checked out). We sat in a few different spots in front of paintings until about 7pm when they were closing. Then we got on a vaporetto to Lido (another island) after deciding to find the only stretch of 'free beach' in Venice. The trip was very fun, we sat out the front and had gorgeous views, watched most of the sunset, hair blowing everywhere, cold but not feeling it. Everything, again, looked like a painting!
When we arrived at the island, we saw buses, cars, roads! It was weird! We walked down probably the main street until we hit the beach, past lots of gelati shops but we'd already had today's. Trees too - there were hardly any on the main island! We were so excited to be on a beach for the first time since November... we took photos, touched the water, got cold so sat behind a platform a bit off the sand and ate our salad roll dinner (amazing smokey mozzarella-type cheese) and strawberries. It got dark eventually to we walked back to the vaparetto stop and caught one pretty quickly. We sat out the back and watched all the lights.
We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and smelt the yummy dinner they were having, and went back to the vaparetto to get to the station. We were there from about 10pm, got a bit worried because we couldn't see 'Roma' anywhere on the departures lists but that was only because it wasn't the train's last stop. I got an instant hot chocolate from a machine on the platform and we eventually boarded our train at 11:30pm. 'Couchettes for 4' are great, 6 seats are turned into 4 bunks and we actually all slept pretty well, although it was only for about 6 hours. The train actually stopped for ages only a little way into the journey; we assumed it was so the trip actually took 7 hours but we ended up arriving an hour late. There was a button for the tap in the bathroom which I couldn't work out for a good while. Some American guys studying in London - seriously, everyone seems to do that! - a couple of 'rooms' down were doing shots. We eventually got given blankets and slept about 12:30am.
Rome is coming soooon!
Eventually we could board the train and discovered that luckily our seats - 61, 62, 63 and 68 - were all together. Slept a bit on and off but even with my inflatable (and constantly deflating) neck pillow it was pretty uncomfortable. It was pretty cool when we drove over all the water separating Venice from the mainland, it seemed to go on forever. At the station we used the toilets (had to pay - should have gone on the train!) then bought 72 hour vaporetto (water bus) tickets and got some info from the tourist office. We found the vaporetti, caught one to San Toma' with our mouths pretty much open the whole time at how beautiful everything was and found our hostel with directions from the website. After ringing the doorbell a voice came from above and welcomed us, and the front door clicked open. We came into a sort of inside courtyard that led to a set of stairs which we followed. We paid and left our bags since we were before check-in time again. Oh and the hostel door opened right onto a little canal!
We had a bit of a walk around, took photos with little bridges which are everywhere just like the canals (there are more than 500 in the whole of Venice!). We found a supermarket and bought another healthy lunch to share - salad, cheese, rolls and apples - and ate at the top of a couple of steps which led right into one of the canals. Lots of gondolas went past, some of the gondoliers singing (apparently costs more) and a cute dog who was lying in the street came to say hello when we sat down (another earlier jumped up and licked my fingers, so sweet!). There were so many glass/bead/Carnevale mask shops/street stalls everywhere. The masks were amazing, I seriously wanted one but had no idea how I would get it through the rest of Italy, Turkey and back to High Wycombe. It was so easy to get lost because there are just narrow lanes, footbridges, canals and old, coloured buildings everywhere. We were trying to find our way to Piazza San Marco but failed majorly; we couldn't even find any nearby streets on the map! We found a fruit market and a long strip along the Grand Canal with lots of market stalls. We caught the vaporetto - sat out on the back deck with a really good view - to San Marco instead (first the wrong way, it's a bit hard when the start and end points of the route are both the same). We saw the Basilica and Doge's Palace (but Janet & I weren't appropriately dressed to go inside either of them) and some tall building which you can take a lift up and see over Venice. It was so much more crowded there than where the hostel is. We sat down at one end of the Piazza (square) near these stupid French kids who were throwing their bags at massive groups of pigeons before luring them back with bread and sending them flying again.
We headed back to the hostel to put our bags in our room, then got back on the vaporetto just to relax for while. We were trying to read about buildings as we went past but got on the wrong way again so that was confusing. We saw the open water which we'd come over on the train, the southern island with totally different buildings and a MASSIVE ship. We arrived back at San Marco then walked back to the hostel via raspberry gelati (cheaper than Milan). We got back about 7pm and dinner, which we'd paid for, wasn't till 8:30pm so we chatted with some of the girls in our room, mainly Americans. We also found out we were 2 beds short so one girl moved into another room and the guy working there just pulled out another bed from the cupboard and eventually got us linen. We were then told that dinner was going to be half an hour late but we didn't get our gorgonzola risotto until 9:15pm! It was reeeally good though. Then we got warm, crispy roll with bruschetta, and blueberry strudel thing for dessert. It was all very tasty and the atmosphere was really nice, chatting to all the Americans and another Aussie along a long table. Unfortunately we were too tired after dinner to explore the nightlife; we went to bed about midnight.
We left just after 9am on our second day in Venice, Tuesday 12th April. We got brekky from a bakery where we'd bought olive bread the day before, this morning a very nice chocolate croissant. We took the vaporetto to San Marco, saw just about the only park area with benches on the whole of the island, then bought joint entry tickets for the Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, Archaeological Museum & some library archive. We spent 3 hours at the Doge's Palace: first in the Museo d'ell Opera with its big columns and statues; then in the Doge's apartment with lots of rooms and chambers where the senate and other councils held meetings; also the 'Bridge of Sighs' which led prisoners to their cells. The rooms were all incredible - carved wooden ceilings, tiled floors, tapestried walls, portraits, chandeliers and cabinets - but unfortunately photography wasn't allowed inside. We completed the circuit set out by the palace, waited ages behind a school group to use the toilet then headed next door to the basilica, this time dressed appropriately. This was stunning too but, again, no photos. The floors were especially gorgeous, and some of the patterns of the marble tiles almost seemed modern. We all bought some postcards and, although we were getting really hungry, we checked out the prices for the Campanile (clock tower). We didn't end up doing it but I was kind of regretting it. I think Venice would have been amazing to see from above.
We took the vaporetto to Rialto which was near where the Post Office was meant to be, since Dad demanded I send a postcard home from there. We found where the map said it was but it was totally shut up so we got lunch - a €3,50 cheese, lettuce & tomato roll for me, the others got €4 slices of pizza but then we found bigger pieces for €2,50! We sat on the edge of the Grand Canal and wrote our postcards. We saw an ambulance boat whizz past, siren and all, and that was only the second time it hit me that there were no cars in Venice! Which I thought was actually really great.
Janet and I bought expensive but amazingly delicious nougat and then headed to the Galleria Academia which some of the girls from the night before had told us was free because of Cultural Week (which you would have thought the tourist office might have mentioned). There were lots of rooms of paintings, some sculptures, lots of students sketching. It was nice, but tiring. The rooms had lovely ceilings and floors too, and there were even similar ceilings featured in some of the paintings.
We took the vaporetto back to San Marco to see if the other places our ticket got us entry to were open. The Museo Correr was and it turned out the archaeological museum and the library were adjoining. The rooms were breathtaking and again, photos weren't allowed. We saw paintings, maps, coins, busts and some great old photos of the canalside buildings.
We caught the vaporetto back to the hostel, found out dinner was going to be good so booked in for that again. The wifi kept going on and off which was a bit annoying. Dinner was almost as late as the night before but reeeeally good again - I ate way too much pesto pasta, arancini rice balls (same mix as the risotto) and fresh warm chocolate torte. I sat opposite a nice old Dutch guy and a young Russian girl (not together, don't worry). Again, we wanted to go out but we were too tired. Got to bed about midnight again.
We had an awesome last day - Wednesday 13th April - in Venice. We got up again at 8:30am and left about 9:15am, leaving our backpacks at the hostel. We tried to find the supermarket to get a healthier breakfast than the day before but we realised we'd kind of just come across it on Monday. I remembered a special pasty mentioned in one of my print-outs, so we found on the map that it wasn't too far from us and headed there. Contrary to what the article said, it wasn't crowded at all, so we all bought krapfen, cream filled donuts, for €1 - absolutely delicious!
We headed to San Marco on a vaporetto with a group of good-looking Italian guys and went to the open Post Office there to send our postcards. We then found the vaporetto which would take us to Murano, the glass-blowing island of Venice. It took a bit over half an hour, we saw a big park at the end of the main island and also went past the cemetery island. Once at Murano, we were directed to a free glass-blowing demonstration but it was almost finished when we got inside so it wasn't particularly exciting. We continued over to where they were selling things, from earrings to huge sculptures, cups, bowls and chandeliers. We all wanted everything. We kept walking around the island, along a canal, and saw so many more stalls and shops, a lot with similar stuff and often quite different prices - we discovered the first place was much more expensive than the rest. It was a bit cold and windy but still beautiful; the blue sky with its clouds looked as if it were painted. We got spinach and ricotta pastries for lunch then kept walking a bit more. Spent some money in a shop with lots of pendants. Crossed a little bridge across the canal, looked at some big blue glass star sculpture then walked back the way we came, on the opposite side of the canal. We checked if there was another glass-blowing demonstration as we had time till the vaporetto took us back but unfortunately we'd just missed the last one.
We sat on the edge of the island and tried to locate on the map the 'best Venetian gelati'. We were going to go straight to the Rialto station to find it, but we'd gotten quite cold by that stage so we went back to the hostel to get jackets and change into jeans. We found the supermarket somehow, stocked up on salad, rolls, cheeses and fruit for dinner, before going back to that morning's pastry shop for more. There was a lot less choice by this time but I got an apricot jam thing which was okay.
We took the vaporetto to the gelati place and I got nutella flavour - she first gave me coffee (I think because 'cup' sounds a bit like 'caffe') and then gave me 2 scoops when I only wanted one. Oh well, it was amazing of course.
We decided to chill in the Accademia gallery since it was free, they had free toilets (not like the public ones) and we could rest our feet and stay warm (we couldn't really stay at the hostel since we'd already checked out). We sat in a few different spots in front of paintings until about 7pm when they were closing. Then we got on a vaporetto to Lido (another island) after deciding to find the only stretch of 'free beach' in Venice. The trip was very fun, we sat out the front and had gorgeous views, watched most of the sunset, hair blowing everywhere, cold but not feeling it. Everything, again, looked like a painting!
When we arrived at the island, we saw buses, cars, roads! It was weird! We walked down probably the main street until we hit the beach, past lots of gelati shops but we'd already had today's. Trees too - there were hardly any on the main island! We were so excited to be on a beach for the first time since November... we took photos, touched the water, got cold so sat behind a platform a bit off the sand and ate our salad roll dinner (amazing smokey mozzarella-type cheese) and strawberries. It got dark eventually to we walked back to the vaparetto stop and caught one pretty quickly. We sat out the back and watched all the lights.
We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and smelt the yummy dinner they were having, and went back to the vaparetto to get to the station. We were there from about 10pm, got a bit worried because we couldn't see 'Roma' anywhere on the departures lists but that was only because it wasn't the train's last stop. I got an instant hot chocolate from a machine on the platform and we eventually boarded our train at 11:30pm. 'Couchettes for 4' are great, 6 seats are turned into 4 bunks and we actually all slept pretty well, although it was only for about 6 hours. The train actually stopped for ages only a little way into the journey; we assumed it was so the trip actually took 7 hours but we ended up arriving an hour late. There was a button for the tap in the bathroom which I couldn't work out for a good while. Some American guys studying in London - seriously, everyone seems to do that! - a couple of 'rooms' down were doing shots. We eventually got given blankets and slept about 12:30am.
Rome is coming soooon!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Milan
On Friday 8th April, Janet, Caitlin, Greer & I headed to Milan to start off our 3 week Easter holiday! The night before I slept from about 9:20pm-12:10am then got up, had a shower and got everything ready for the final time. We all met at Highlands just after 1am (Rose even came to say bye, aww) and headed down to the bus stop to catch a 2am bus. It was so early, the bus station wasn't even open so we waited outside till the bus came 15 minutes late - it was alright though, because we had an hour and a half to spare (this was the last bus to get us to the airport in time). I felt really thirsty and faint on the bus, don't know why, but once we arrived I was okay. We couldn't check in till 4am and it was only 2:50am by this time so we sat down, bought hot drinks, listened to Italian phrases, read an Italian phrasebook, etc. Once we checked in, we waited until 5:45am in the 'lounge', I got a yummy yoghurt/berry/granola thing to keep me going. We lined up for aaaages, then still had to catch a bus to the plane.
The flight was 1 hour 45 minutes and I slept a little bit on and off. I woke up at one stage to an amazing mountainous landscape - obviously we were nearly there! The mountains changed to flat gridded areas with houses spaced far apart. Once landed, we caught a bus to another terminal (had to strip down to t-shirts!), then a train to Cadorna station, then the underground to QT8 (don't worry, this was the only station with a name like that - but we found out it had a story, can't remember it though). A man working at the station gave us directions to the hostel. It was a short, nice walk although we were already dying from the heat (found out later it was only about 25 degrees). We couldn't check in yet but we paid and left our bags in the luggage room and I changed from my jeans into a skirt. We walked to the supermarket and bought salad, donut-shaped bread, olives and cheese for lunch (and raspberries for me), and tried to find sunscreen but they didn't have any! So we bought super expensive stuff from a pharmacy then sat in a little park in the shade and ate our yummy lunch.
We talked about what we'd do for the rest of the day/weekend and decided we'd go to see the Milan Cathedral/Duomo which is the world's largest Gothic and 4th largest cathedral in general. We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and took our sheets up to our dorm, which we'd forgotten was a 4-bed and was a nice surprise since the rest we'd booked were 8-bed dorms. Janet & I had single beds and the others were in a bunk. We headed back to the station via a nice quiet pedestrian road at the back of the hostel and bought 2-day tickets. We got off at the station which, according to our hostel, was where the tourist info place would be, but we couldn't find that, so we followed 'Stazione Duomo' signs around for a bit on a wild goose chase. The buildings were all amazing though, and we definitely saw a lot of them. We got back on the train since we thought it would be easier to find the station that way. The station steps led straight up onto the Duomo and seriously, it is so intricate and HUGE. We took photos out the front, of course, and experienced the people I'd read about who give you birdseed and bracelets 'free' and then try to make you pay, so we stayed away from them. Janet pretended she was German and we got a little worried when one responded 'German? Guten Tag!' but luckily that was the extent of his German.
Anyway, the cathedral is on one side of an amazing square with empty space in the middle and other gorgeous buildings taking up the other edges, including a big arched building which we later realised was actually on lots of the tourist-y lists I'd printed out. We went inside the cathedral; there were 'no photos' signs but everyone was. It was gorgeous and again, massive inside. I don't really understand any of the religious stuff but what I saw were beautiful ceilings, stained glass windows, huge painted banners, prayer candles, statues, thrones. You could tell how important religion is for some people - lots of bowing of heads, muttering of prayers, hands drawing the cross.
We got our first Italian gelati in a little van outside, very exciting. I got ciocollato (chocolate) & frutti di bosco, which I couldn't quite work out but which was still yummy. We sat down to eat them outside the Duomo and read through the print-outs again, figuring out that the glass-covered arched arcade was the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II with lots of designer brands - Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci - all in gorgeous buildings, and a Maccas in the same style of building which amused us a little. There were also little horse and rider figurines 'riding' around by themselves, sometimes getting in the way, sometimes falling over of their own accord. Also people splatting these toy things, which we saw all over Italy (photos needed to explain properly). Once through the other end, we sat down near some grass and a Leonardo statue and decided to find the Opera House which was apparently nearby, before realising it was across the road. Which kind of wrecked our plan to take up some more time. We walked a bit more through the streets, then trained back to the hostel to ask where we should go for dinner - they recommended a pizzeria so we went and found that. I got penne with tomato/spinach/butter sauce which was nice and the others enjoyed theirs too. We sat outside the restaurant in a little tent thing and it had cooled down a bit by that stage so it was quite pleasant.
We went back to the supermarket to buy fruit for dessert - I got a yummy container of pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and grapes. Back to the hostel, Janet & I had showers in adjacent cubicles so had a good chat. We managed to lock ourselves into our room and the receptionist had to come up and told us not to lock our door from the inside, which meant it had to stay open during the night, sooo safe.
A couple of random notes I wrote down from this day: the toilets at the hostel were really low; the lights in the bathroom turn off after 5 minutes which is very inconvenient if you're in the shower but yes, good for the planet; and there are shops in the underground - typical Italy!
The next day, Saturday 9th April, we went down to breakfast about 8:30am. We had weird but okay cereal, rolls, creamy cheese, jam, THE best hot chocolate you have ever tasted and bad orange juice. Then we headed off to a 'canalside' market - first we walked through fruit and veg stalls and a jewellery shop where we all got special matching rings and I got a couple of others (literally the only ones which weren't massive/ugly) for €1 each; the market came to a T and we headed off to the left, with lots of clothes and accessories stalls, many with the same things. Janet and I got backpacks for €5. It got really hot and crowded so we were relieved to eventually come out at the end. We found the canal on the map and walked to find it, crossed a bridge and walked back to the station past some more stalls on the street, fruit and veg shops, and what looked like a big Italian family having a nice bbq. We trained back to the Duomo and sat at the same spot as we had the day before, already feeling exhausted from the heat. We'd decided to walk to the top today so when the queue shortened a bit, we got in line and walked the 165 steps, with a little kid in front of us counting each one in another language (I forget). As you walk up the spiral staircases you can't see anything so coming out at (nearly) the top it was surprising how high we'd gotten. Seeing all the intricacies up close was fascinating. After walking through some beautiful sections, we went even higher. We sat up there for a while in the shade and just relaxed a bit. Caitlin got a call asking her to be a God mother and was very excited.
After a bit, we headed back down and got a late lunch at a pizza place nearby, right opposite a popular and delicious-looking chocolate and gelati place. We had a really nice waiter and got 2 pizzas between us (plenty) - both with tomato and mozzarella, one with ricotta and spinach, the other with rocket, some other tasty cheese and fresh tomatoes. We first became acquainted with service fees here. After lunch, we looked in the chocolate place but decided it was too crowded today. Then we were going to get McFlurries (cherry or chocolate cornetto, smarties or 'brownies') but the line was too long and then shut down. We saw the bull image on the ground with its testicles worn away from all the people spinning on it for luck - too many people seemingly waiting to do it. We ended up getting gelati from the same place as yesterday - this time just got cocco (coconut), nom nom.
I bought a Universita' Milan t-shirt so, feeling like it justified the purchase, we went to find the Uni. It wasn't a standout but it was still pretty. We sat in a small shady park near the uni for a while, then decided to head to the Golden Quad - four streets of designer shops. 5 minutes into walking I realised I didn't have my special ring but luckily it was right where I'd been sitting at the park. We eventually found the Quad - gorgeous buildings as usual - only walked 2 or 3 streets of it before seeing a big M sign for a station so trained back to the hostel. It was 6:30pm by this time but we were still full from lunch. We all collapsed on our beds for a while, J gave me a good massage then we went to the supermarket for fruit. Crunchy apples at last (the school ones suck)! We also got some peas to share, just to continue our healthiness. Slept about 10:30pm.
On our third and final day in Milan, Sunday 10th April, we had our last breakfast at the hostel (since we had to leave reeeally early the next morning) and then headed off to a castle. We saw a few marathon runners on our train and once we got off we saw so many more - we'd managed to be in Milan for the Milan marathon, but not only that - the finish line was right outside the castle so it was very crowded. We managed to get across the running track to the castle, marvelled at every brick and bought tickets for all the museums which are located at various areas in the castle, €3 for 'students'. First we went through the Museum of Musical Instruments; we had fun taking photos of each other 'playing' the instruments. This continued on to the Museum of Decorative Arts, which included gorgeous cutlery, vases, door knockers, plates, porcelain things plus more; following was a small oriental section. We saw the Museum of Furniture, then the picture gallery which was way too big - room after room - for our increasingly-hungry stomachs.
We left the castle (much more crowded by this time) and walked down one of the main streets we'd explored on Friday, past so many pizza shops pretty much on the road and chose the cheapest one. We sat inside and it was actually a really nice restaurant - antipasto platters, fish in a tank, lots of shelves full of wine, flowers everywhere. We got 2 pizzas between us again, they were that big. This time we had tomato/mozzarella/capers/artichokes/mushrooms/olives (delish) and mozzarella/carrot/cherry tomatoes/celery/spinach.
We walked back to the castle, this time it taking us longer to find a way in through the crowd. We tried to find the Egyptian Museum but with no luck thanks to the map. We did (we think) find the Ancient Museum and a Michelangelo section, full of sketches and other things. We were all getting a bit tired, Janet went outside to find a spot in the park behind the castle and we went on a search to find the photo archives, but they were closed. So we also went to the park, called J away from her perfect spot surrounded by Italian guys to come and meet us and found another shady/sunny place to sit and relax. It was a really nice atmosphere, lots of people just relaxing, some stripped down to their underwear to sunbake.
After a while, we headed back to the station, getting gelati from a little van on the way - I got fragola (strawb) and biscotti (like cookies & cream), so so good. We ended up buying daily train tickets as our 2-day ones had just run out, but then we realised that the trains didn't run early enough to get us to the Central station to catch our train to Venice in the morning. The guy at reception did tell us there was a bus we could catch though, and we could use our train tickets, so that all worked out. We went and checked out the bus times, then Maccas which was close and finally tried McFlurry Brownies! It was pretty damn good, a bit like Milo mixed with soft serve and crunchy choc bits. We sat in a nearby park in the fading light surrounded by daisies, ate our McFlurries and leftover olives and peas. Back at the hostel, we got codes for the wifi and sat in the dining room being antisocial for a bit. Headed to bed about 10pm, up early the next morning (see next blog post!)...
The flight was 1 hour 45 minutes and I slept a little bit on and off. I woke up at one stage to an amazing mountainous landscape - obviously we were nearly there! The mountains changed to flat gridded areas with houses spaced far apart. Once landed, we caught a bus to another terminal (had to strip down to t-shirts!), then a train to Cadorna station, then the underground to QT8 (don't worry, this was the only station with a name like that - but we found out it had a story, can't remember it though). A man working at the station gave us directions to the hostel. It was a short, nice walk although we were already dying from the heat (found out later it was only about 25 degrees). We couldn't check in yet but we paid and left our bags in the luggage room and I changed from my jeans into a skirt. We walked to the supermarket and bought salad, donut-shaped bread, olives and cheese for lunch (and raspberries for me), and tried to find sunscreen but they didn't have any! So we bought super expensive stuff from a pharmacy then sat in a little park in the shade and ate our yummy lunch.
We talked about what we'd do for the rest of the day/weekend and decided we'd go to see the Milan Cathedral/Duomo which is the world's largest Gothic and 4th largest cathedral in general. We went back to the hostel, grabbed our bags and took our sheets up to our dorm, which we'd forgotten was a 4-bed and was a nice surprise since the rest we'd booked were 8-bed dorms. Janet & I had single beds and the others were in a bunk. We headed back to the station via a nice quiet pedestrian road at the back of the hostel and bought 2-day tickets. We got off at the station which, according to our hostel, was where the tourist info place would be, but we couldn't find that, so we followed 'Stazione Duomo' signs around for a bit on a wild goose chase. The buildings were all amazing though, and we definitely saw a lot of them. We got back on the train since we thought it would be easier to find the station that way. The station steps led straight up onto the Duomo and seriously, it is so intricate and HUGE. We took photos out the front, of course, and experienced the people I'd read about who give you birdseed and bracelets 'free' and then try to make you pay, so we stayed away from them. Janet pretended she was German and we got a little worried when one responded 'German? Guten Tag!' but luckily that was the extent of his German.
Anyway, the cathedral is on one side of an amazing square with empty space in the middle and other gorgeous buildings taking up the other edges, including a big arched building which we later realised was actually on lots of the tourist-y lists I'd printed out. We went inside the cathedral; there were 'no photos' signs but everyone was. It was gorgeous and again, massive inside. I don't really understand any of the religious stuff but what I saw were beautiful ceilings, stained glass windows, huge painted banners, prayer candles, statues, thrones. You could tell how important religion is for some people - lots of bowing of heads, muttering of prayers, hands drawing the cross.
We got our first Italian gelati in a little van outside, very exciting. I got ciocollato (chocolate) & frutti di bosco, which I couldn't quite work out but which was still yummy. We sat down to eat them outside the Duomo and read through the print-outs again, figuring out that the glass-covered arched arcade was the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele II with lots of designer brands - Prada, Louis Vuitton, Gucci - all in gorgeous buildings, and a Maccas in the same style of building which amused us a little. There were also little horse and rider figurines 'riding' around by themselves, sometimes getting in the way, sometimes falling over of their own accord. Also people splatting these toy things, which we saw all over Italy (photos needed to explain properly). Once through the other end, we sat down near some grass and a Leonardo statue and decided to find the Opera House which was apparently nearby, before realising it was across the road. Which kind of wrecked our plan to take up some more time. We walked a bit more through the streets, then trained back to the hostel to ask where we should go for dinner - they recommended a pizzeria so we went and found that. I got penne with tomato/spinach/butter sauce which was nice and the others enjoyed theirs too. We sat outside the restaurant in a little tent thing and it had cooled down a bit by that stage so it was quite pleasant.
We went back to the supermarket to buy fruit for dessert - I got a yummy container of pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and grapes. Back to the hostel, Janet & I had showers in adjacent cubicles so had a good chat. We managed to lock ourselves into our room and the receptionist had to come up and told us not to lock our door from the inside, which meant it had to stay open during the night, sooo safe.
A couple of random notes I wrote down from this day: the toilets at the hostel were really low; the lights in the bathroom turn off after 5 minutes which is very inconvenient if you're in the shower but yes, good for the planet; and there are shops in the underground - typical Italy!
The next day, Saturday 9th April, we went down to breakfast about 8:30am. We had weird but okay cereal, rolls, creamy cheese, jam, THE best hot chocolate you have ever tasted and bad orange juice. Then we headed off to a 'canalside' market - first we walked through fruit and veg stalls and a jewellery shop where we all got special matching rings and I got a couple of others (literally the only ones which weren't massive/ugly) for €1 each; the market came to a T and we headed off to the left, with lots of clothes and accessories stalls, many with the same things. Janet and I got backpacks for €5. It got really hot and crowded so we were relieved to eventually come out at the end. We found the canal on the map and walked to find it, crossed a bridge and walked back to the station past some more stalls on the street, fruit and veg shops, and what looked like a big Italian family having a nice bbq. We trained back to the Duomo and sat at the same spot as we had the day before, already feeling exhausted from the heat. We'd decided to walk to the top today so when the queue shortened a bit, we got in line and walked the 165 steps, with a little kid in front of us counting each one in another language (I forget). As you walk up the spiral staircases you can't see anything so coming out at (nearly) the top it was surprising how high we'd gotten. Seeing all the intricacies up close was fascinating. After walking through some beautiful sections, we went even higher. We sat up there for a while in the shade and just relaxed a bit. Caitlin got a call asking her to be a God mother and was very excited.
After a bit, we headed back down and got a late lunch at a pizza place nearby, right opposite a popular and delicious-looking chocolate and gelati place. We had a really nice waiter and got 2 pizzas between us (plenty) - both with tomato and mozzarella, one with ricotta and spinach, the other with rocket, some other tasty cheese and fresh tomatoes. We first became acquainted with service fees here. After lunch, we looked in the chocolate place but decided it was too crowded today. Then we were going to get McFlurries (cherry or chocolate cornetto, smarties or 'brownies') but the line was too long and then shut down. We saw the bull image on the ground with its testicles worn away from all the people spinning on it for luck - too many people seemingly waiting to do it. We ended up getting gelati from the same place as yesterday - this time just got cocco (coconut), nom nom.
I bought a Universita' Milan t-shirt so, feeling like it justified the purchase, we went to find the Uni. It wasn't a standout but it was still pretty. We sat in a small shady park near the uni for a while, then decided to head to the Golden Quad - four streets of designer shops. 5 minutes into walking I realised I didn't have my special ring but luckily it was right where I'd been sitting at the park. We eventually found the Quad - gorgeous buildings as usual - only walked 2 or 3 streets of it before seeing a big M sign for a station so trained back to the hostel. It was 6:30pm by this time but we were still full from lunch. We all collapsed on our beds for a while, J gave me a good massage then we went to the supermarket for fruit. Crunchy apples at last (the school ones suck)! We also got some peas to share, just to continue our healthiness. Slept about 10:30pm.
On our third and final day in Milan, Sunday 10th April, we had our last breakfast at the hostel (since we had to leave reeeally early the next morning) and then headed off to a castle. We saw a few marathon runners on our train and once we got off we saw so many more - we'd managed to be in Milan for the Milan marathon, but not only that - the finish line was right outside the castle so it was very crowded. We managed to get across the running track to the castle, marvelled at every brick and bought tickets for all the museums which are located at various areas in the castle, €3 for 'students'. First we went through the Museum of Musical Instruments; we had fun taking photos of each other 'playing' the instruments. This continued on to the Museum of Decorative Arts, which included gorgeous cutlery, vases, door knockers, plates, porcelain things plus more; following was a small oriental section. We saw the Museum of Furniture, then the picture gallery which was way too big - room after room - for our increasingly-hungry stomachs.
We left the castle (much more crowded by this time) and walked down one of the main streets we'd explored on Friday, past so many pizza shops pretty much on the road and chose the cheapest one. We sat inside and it was actually a really nice restaurant - antipasto platters, fish in a tank, lots of shelves full of wine, flowers everywhere. We got 2 pizzas between us again, they were that big. This time we had tomato/mozzarella/capers/artichokes/mushrooms/olives (delish) and mozzarella/carrot/cherry tomatoes/celery/spinach.
We walked back to the castle, this time it taking us longer to find a way in through the crowd. We tried to find the Egyptian Museum but with no luck thanks to the map. We did (we think) find the Ancient Museum and a Michelangelo section, full of sketches and other things. We were all getting a bit tired, Janet went outside to find a spot in the park behind the castle and we went on a search to find the photo archives, but they were closed. So we also went to the park, called J away from her perfect spot surrounded by Italian guys to come and meet us and found another shady/sunny place to sit and relax. It was a really nice atmosphere, lots of people just relaxing, some stripped down to their underwear to sunbake.
After a while, we headed back to the station, getting gelati from a little van on the way - I got fragola (strawb) and biscotti (like cookies & cream), so so good. We ended up buying daily train tickets as our 2-day ones had just run out, but then we realised that the trains didn't run early enough to get us to the Central station to catch our train to Venice in the morning. The guy at reception did tell us there was a bus we could catch though, and we could use our train tickets, so that all worked out. We went and checked out the bus times, then Maccas which was close and finally tried McFlurry Brownies! It was pretty damn good, a bit like Milo mixed with soft serve and crunchy choc bits. We sat in a nearby park in the fading light surrounded by daisies, ate our McFlurries and leftover olives and peas. Back at the hostel, we got codes for the wifi and sat in the dining room being antisocial for a bit. Headed to bed about 10pm, up early the next morning (see next blog post!)...
Thursday, April 7, 2011
It's 7.15pm here, and we leave in about 6 hours to catch the bus which will take us to the airport, headed for Milan, and then onwards to Venice, Rome, Istanbul and other parts of Turkey.
Pretty exciting, but honestly, I'm not feeling it yet. I just weighed my bag and it's 12.5kg - with our EasyJet flight over, there are only size restrictions but the other flights have weight restrictions of 10kg and 8kg respectively. We think we can check in luggage on those flights though. It's also just having that weight on my back, and I don't even have any jumpers in there...
I'm also nervous because none of us speak Italian. I know everywhere in Europe people speak English, but it's only my second time in a country where the first language isn't Enlgish and at least in Germany I could understand a bit of what the locals said.
I know, I know, it'll be fine, it'll be enlightening, it'll be amazing, but I'm just scared.
Ciao for now, back late on the 29th - Royal Wedding day!
Pretty exciting, but honestly, I'm not feeling it yet. I just weighed my bag and it's 12.5kg - with our EasyJet flight over, there are only size restrictions but the other flights have weight restrictions of 10kg and 8kg respectively. We think we can check in luggage on those flights though. It's also just having that weight on my back, and I don't even have any jumpers in there...
I'm also nervous because none of us speak Italian. I know everywhere in Europe people speak English, but it's only my second time in a country where the first language isn't Enlgish and at least in Germany I could understand a bit of what the locals said.
I know, I know, it'll be fine, it'll be enlightening, it'll be amazing, but I'm just scared.
Ciao for now, back late on the 29th - Royal Wedding day!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Feeling pretty good right now. Today I walked down and up the hill, played a bit of tennis with some of the older boarders and just finished an hour aerobics workout with Georgie & Aisling from a video from 1990 they got at an op shop this morning.
The trip to town wasn't particularly interesting, just picking up things like bandaids, moisturiser, and lip balm (they don't have Lucas' Papaw over here :( BUT I found a site that ships it). I also picked up a belt for £2 at another op shop I hadn't been to before.
Yesterday I spent the day going through all 15GB of my photos and am pleased to say I only have 700+ photos from Berlin now as opposed to the original 1000+. We also played tennis before dinner last night which was good, I love how social it is. We had lots of fun playing 'it's still in!' rules. We watched 10 Things I hate About You after dinner, good Friday night in (there was not even mention of going out, we were all so tired).
I'm heading off for an early night tonight seeing as I have been exhausted for the last week and we leave in 6 days!!! Still have a few things to do, and I have barely even looked up what to do in Milan, Venice, Rome and Istanbul, let alone started packing!
Just did this post in 10 minutes... which means I can and should do it more often and it will be easier to read.
The trip to town wasn't particularly interesting, just picking up things like bandaids, moisturiser, and lip balm (they don't have Lucas' Papaw over here :( BUT I found a site that ships it). I also picked up a belt for £2 at another op shop I hadn't been to before.
Yesterday I spent the day going through all 15GB of my photos and am pleased to say I only have 700+ photos from Berlin now as opposed to the original 1000+. We also played tennis before dinner last night which was good, I love how social it is. We had lots of fun playing 'it's still in!' rules. We watched 10 Things I hate About You after dinner, good Friday night in (there was not even mention of going out, we were all so tired).
I'm heading off for an early night tonight seeing as I have been exhausted for the last week and we leave in 6 days!!! Still have a few things to do, and I have barely even looked up what to do in Milan, Venice, Rome and Istanbul, let alone started packing!
Just did this post in 10 minutes... which means I can and should do it more often and it will be easier to read.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Just want to fill in the gaps for the last few weeks...
The weekend between getting back from Berlin and EXEAT, we saw Tangled in 3D (really good) on Friday and didn't go out on Friday night so working Saturday morning wasn't too bad. On Sat afternoon we went with all the boarders to the theatre to see Goodnight Mister Tom. On the Sunday we went to the cinema and I saw Rango with some of the girls while the others saw Gnomeo and Juliet. The older girls saw I Am Number Four which I want to see sometime.
The Tuesday following, seeing as I started later in the afternoon, I went for walk. The same walk I'd done a few weeks before - along the back of the cemetery behind school. I took lots of photos and went just at the right time to see the sky looking almost sunset-like even though the sun was still high in the sky. I couldn't go as far as I had last time as I saw a huge cloud of smoke across the second road and cops turned up just as I got there.
The next day I did a bit of op shopping. I got a pair of 'Versace Couture' jeans for £1.50. Whether or not they're real I couldn't say but they're awesome anyway - light purple and high-waisted and I will probably cut them into shorts eventually. I also got a denim vest for £2.50 and a couple of nice-patterned skirts for £3 each (one of which is a size 20 but so pretty).
Friday-Sunday we were in Bath (see 2 posts below).
I went down to town every day of the next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which means a walk up the hill each time. On Tuesday Janet and I saw the Adjustment Bureau because we both started later and Tuesday is cheap movie day. It was okay but the ending sucked. Massive cop out. Wednesday I went down after lunch to get a haircut for £13.95 (the cheapest you'll get - around $23). I just got a trim because my hair was becoming awful, and because I didn't need it washed she cut it dry - I thought she would spray it! Very weird. I was also that awkward person you walk past in a hairdressers who has to stand to have their hair cut... But I think it turned out okay. (No, I have not done anything about my regrowth and it is getting worse/better by the day.)
On Friday night (18th March) we went for dinner at a 60s diner in High Wycombe for Caitlin's birthday on Sunday (since we have to work). We were planning to go out afterwards but I was too tired so just Rose and Caitlin went. I stayed and watched Comic Relief for a while in the flat with the others. I ended up falling asleep on the floor at about midnight and then headed back to Highlands. But it was so moving, I ended up donating £10 to Red Nose Day the next day.
I worked Saturday morning and it was a good feeling not being hungover/ridiculously tired. I even played a bit of tennis with an 8 year old who was surprisingly good. I'm getting so nostalgic every time I see the tennis nets up now (the girls have moved on from lacrosse in school). Rose and I went down to town after lunch and bought ingredients for truffles and came back up and made them for Caitlin. We also spent good time taking pictures of us on Rose's Macbook holding up 'happy birthday Caitlin' signs, which I stuck on her door that night.
On Sunday we got breakfast in the house (including muffins!) and then we took a bus to Henley-on-Thames (I think) and had a packed-lunch picnic on the river. The weather was nice so it was really pleasant. Then we went and painted plates to be put in a kiln, which Amanda and Sam have just picked up (exciting!).
The following day, the four of us walked down to check out the equivalent (but definitely not as good) of Officeworks here, called Staples. It was a bit of an adventure trying to get across a massive roundabout to get there but we did it in the end. It wasn't as big or cheap as Officeworks which was a bit disappointing. We walked back a safer way and saw the uni for the first time.
Wednesday was a nice day, we lay in the sun (YES! So warm and nice!) in the morning and then we watched the dress rehearsal for the lower division (grades 2 and 3) production before work in the afternoon. The main character, who is a boarder at Highlands, was sick so her sister, also a boarder, had to fill in for her, script in hand. I also squeezed in an episode of 90210 (Izzy and I are now on season 2 - me for the second time). The sun was out again on Thursday and we lay out on beanbags on a picnic rug and read and ate cake. Martin (groundskeeper) started mowing the lawns and the smell of fresh grass just added to the Spring feeling! So nice!
We thought that maybe seeing a movie last Friday was wasting the time we could have in the sun but nevertheless we ended up seeing Limitless, which also had a stupid ending, and a seemingly stupid message about drugs. We watched the real performance of the production that night after dinner and then headed down to Yate's. It was the pub's 1st birthday so they had a 'special guest', some soapy star, serving drinks and helping out with the DJing. Izzy was the only one who knew who he was but I was still pretty excited. Caitlin, Georgie and I walked back up the hill (yes, we're silly) and the others taxi'd. I think we got back a bit before 3:30am and God, it was a great feeling not having to work on Saturday morning for the first time in so long (because of holidays our alternating weekends/Monday mornings had gotten out of whack)! On Saturday afternoon I 'helped out' with the international fashion show, which most of the boarders were involved in, because of International Weekend. But really all I did was take photos. I'd watched the rehearsal a few days before and thought it was going to be horrible but it was quite good really.
I worked Sun morning - daylight savings started early that morning and getting the girls up at the usual 8am which was actually now 9am meant I worked an hour less, woo! We were busy making dishes for the international buffet at dinnertime. After brunch/work Rose and I went down to town where I had quite a successful shopping trip: flowery belt £1 and wedges from Primark £4 (meant to be £6 but whatcha gonna do); lacy summer PJ set from the op shop £2.50 which works as a jumpsuit; an amazing ring from Topshop £8.50 (just about the only thing not on sale); and a compact mirror (on my travel to-buy list) from another op shop for 99p. The buffet was so so yummy that night and we all ate so much.
I've been pretty tired this week. Caitlin and I went into town on Tuesday to check out some travel things like towels, sleeping bags and backpacks, since we leave in 8 days! So close! Camille (an amazing cook who helps at Highlands every weeknight) brought me in some of her travel bags and a travel towel last night for me to have a look at so hopefully that takes away some of the stress. Yesterday, Janet, Caitlin & I got driven to Hughenden, 10 minutes down the road, to do a walk and a risk assessment, as the girls will be doing a sponsored walk there next term. It was quite uneven, lots of uphill and downhill and a bit slippery but it was very pretty at times and good exercise for us. It started raining though which wasn't so nice. It took 1 3/4 hours but with the girls it will be hell. It will probably take 3 hours with them and we'll have to put up with moaning and complaining. Ah well, don't have to think about that till May!
The weekend between getting back from Berlin and EXEAT, we saw Tangled in 3D (really good) on Friday and didn't go out on Friday night so working Saturday morning wasn't too bad. On Sat afternoon we went with all the boarders to the theatre to see Goodnight Mister Tom. On the Sunday we went to the cinema and I saw Rango with some of the girls while the others saw Gnomeo and Juliet. The older girls saw I Am Number Four which I want to see sometime.
The Tuesday following, seeing as I started later in the afternoon, I went for walk. The same walk I'd done a few weeks before - along the back of the cemetery behind school. I took lots of photos and went just at the right time to see the sky looking almost sunset-like even though the sun was still high in the sky. I couldn't go as far as I had last time as I saw a huge cloud of smoke across the second road and cops turned up just as I got there.
The next day I did a bit of op shopping. I got a pair of 'Versace Couture' jeans for £1.50. Whether or not they're real I couldn't say but they're awesome anyway - light purple and high-waisted and I will probably cut them into shorts eventually. I also got a denim vest for £2.50 and a couple of nice-patterned skirts for £3 each (one of which is a size 20 but so pretty).
Friday-Sunday we were in Bath (see 2 posts below).
I went down to town every day of the next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which means a walk up the hill each time. On Tuesday Janet and I saw the Adjustment Bureau because we both started later and Tuesday is cheap movie day. It was okay but the ending sucked. Massive cop out. Wednesday I went down after lunch to get a haircut for £13.95 (the cheapest you'll get - around $23). I just got a trim because my hair was becoming awful, and because I didn't need it washed she cut it dry - I thought she would spray it! Very weird. I was also that awkward person you walk past in a hairdressers who has to stand to have their hair cut... But I think it turned out okay. (No, I have not done anything about my regrowth and it is getting worse/better by the day.)
On Friday night (18th March) we went for dinner at a 60s diner in High Wycombe for Caitlin's birthday on Sunday (since we have to work). We were planning to go out afterwards but I was too tired so just Rose and Caitlin went. I stayed and watched Comic Relief for a while in the flat with the others. I ended up falling asleep on the floor at about midnight and then headed back to Highlands. But it was so moving, I ended up donating £10 to Red Nose Day the next day.
I worked Saturday morning and it was a good feeling not being hungover/ridiculously tired. I even played a bit of tennis with an 8 year old who was surprisingly good. I'm getting so nostalgic every time I see the tennis nets up now (the girls have moved on from lacrosse in school). Rose and I went down to town after lunch and bought ingredients for truffles and came back up and made them for Caitlin. We also spent good time taking pictures of us on Rose's Macbook holding up 'happy birthday Caitlin' signs, which I stuck on her door that night.
On Sunday we got breakfast in the house (including muffins!) and then we took a bus to Henley-on-Thames (I think) and had a packed-lunch picnic on the river. The weather was nice so it was really pleasant. Then we went and painted plates to be put in a kiln, which Amanda and Sam have just picked up (exciting!).
The following day, the four of us walked down to check out the equivalent (but definitely not as good) of Officeworks here, called Staples. It was a bit of an adventure trying to get across a massive roundabout to get there but we did it in the end. It wasn't as big or cheap as Officeworks which was a bit disappointing. We walked back a safer way and saw the uni for the first time.
Wednesday was a nice day, we lay in the sun (YES! So warm and nice!) in the morning and then we watched the dress rehearsal for the lower division (grades 2 and 3) production before work in the afternoon. The main character, who is a boarder at Highlands, was sick so her sister, also a boarder, had to fill in for her, script in hand. I also squeezed in an episode of 90210 (Izzy and I are now on season 2 - me for the second time). The sun was out again on Thursday and we lay out on beanbags on a picnic rug and read and ate cake. Martin (groundskeeper) started mowing the lawns and the smell of fresh grass just added to the Spring feeling! So nice!
We thought that maybe seeing a movie last Friday was wasting the time we could have in the sun but nevertheless we ended up seeing Limitless, which also had a stupid ending, and a seemingly stupid message about drugs. We watched the real performance of the production that night after dinner and then headed down to Yate's. It was the pub's 1st birthday so they had a 'special guest', some soapy star, serving drinks and helping out with the DJing. Izzy was the only one who knew who he was but I was still pretty excited. Caitlin, Georgie and I walked back up the hill (yes, we're silly) and the others taxi'd. I think we got back a bit before 3:30am and God, it was a great feeling not having to work on Saturday morning for the first time in so long (because of holidays our alternating weekends/Monday mornings had gotten out of whack)! On Saturday afternoon I 'helped out' with the international fashion show, which most of the boarders were involved in, because of International Weekend. But really all I did was take photos. I'd watched the rehearsal a few days before and thought it was going to be horrible but it was quite good really.
I worked Sun morning - daylight savings started early that morning and getting the girls up at the usual 8am which was actually now 9am meant I worked an hour less, woo! We were busy making dishes for the international buffet at dinnertime. After brunch/work Rose and I went down to town where I had quite a successful shopping trip: flowery belt £1 and wedges from Primark £4 (meant to be £6 but whatcha gonna do); lacy summer PJ set from the op shop £2.50 which works as a jumpsuit; an amazing ring from Topshop £8.50 (just about the only thing not on sale); and a compact mirror (on my travel to-buy list) from another op shop for 99p. The buffet was so so yummy that night and we all ate so much.
I've been pretty tired this week. Caitlin and I went into town on Tuesday to check out some travel things like towels, sleeping bags and backpacks, since we leave in 8 days! So close! Camille (an amazing cook who helps at Highlands every weeknight) brought me in some of her travel bags and a travel towel last night for me to have a look at so hopefully that takes away some of the stress. Yesterday, Janet, Caitlin & I got driven to Hughenden, 10 minutes down the road, to do a walk and a risk assessment, as the girls will be doing a sponsored walk there next term. It was quite uneven, lots of uphill and downhill and a bit slippery but it was very pretty at times and good exercise for us. It started raining though which wasn't so nice. It took 1 3/4 hours but with the girls it will be hell. It will probably take 3 hours with them and we'll have to put up with moaning and complaining. Ah well, don't have to think about that till May!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
I said I'd do a post about my daily/weekly life here. So here goes...
- During the week my general hours are 7am (earlier to wake up the girls) till around 9.30am and then 3.30pm to about 9.30pm. However, Caitlin and I alternate Monday mornings and I also have every Tuesday morning off. I start at 5.30pm on Thursday afternoons. The boarding gaps have every Friday off (which I've mentioned previously).
- In the mornings, we wake the girls up, take them down to breakfast, come back and get them ready for school, hustle them off to school/escort the form 1s (about grade 2) to school, come back and do dorm scores, put laundry away, unload the dishwasher, and do any other random jobs (not very often - we're often done before 9.30am).
- In the afternoons: 3.30pm we go and get snack from the kitchen and organise the rest of it, occasionally go and collect a boarder from lodge (grade 1); at 4pm go and get the form 1s; 4-5.30pm put laundry away, help the girls out with prep (homework) who have a club during prep time; 5.30-6.30pm either go across to school to supervise and help the lowers (grade 4) with prep or stay at the house and help the form 1s and 2s; 6.30pm dinner; 7-8pm get the girls ready for bed, check and chase up who's handed in uniform for washing; 8-8.45pm get the different year levels to bed and lights out 15 minutes later; 8.45-9.30pm put washing on, load the dishwasher, sit in the office and hope no-one comes down comlaining of crying, talking or sickness.
- Caitlin and I go across to the gap flat after work probably at least 3 nights a week to see the others *coughwatch90210withIzzy*.
- On weekends, I either work Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon OR Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Morning shift goes from 8am to 12.30pm (lunch) and afternoon is 12.30pm to about 9.30pm. Breakfast is at 8:30am and dinner is at 5:30pm.
- On Saturday mornings the girls have some sort of activity, whether it be something crafty, a skipping or cheerleading workshop or a dental hygenist coming in to talk about brushing properly. The afternoons are pretty relaxing, often with 'sweet shop' where the girls can choose a bunch of sweets up to 50p, and hot snacks and a movie in the evening.
- Sunday mornings sometimes there is a service, put on by either David (headmaster) or one of the houses - ours was on Valentine's Day - and then a brunch at 11:30am. Sunday afternoons are also pretty chill and we try to get the girls off to bed a bit earlier.
- During the day on weekdays, us 4 boarding gaps usually meet up at Highlands and just waste time on the computers, walk down to town, go for a walk and other fun things. We've also been busy booking accomodation for Easter and now -- IT'S ALL BOOKED! Milan, Venice, Rome and Istanbul are all organised and we are so excited! So, in 20 days, we take a plane to Milan, stay 3 days, train to Venice, stay 3 days, take an overnight train to Rome, stay 4 days then fly to Istanbul where we stay 1 night before our 9 day ANZAC tour starts, then stay another 3 days afterwards before flying back to London in time for the summer term to start. Eeeee!
Hope you've now got a good idea of what my life here is like and that this was a bit easier to read :)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The weekend just gone was our 2nd EXEAT (boarder's leave and no work for us) so we decided to head to Bath on Friday.
We got up early for breakfast and had a minor freak out about train ticket prices - Caitlin thought a return ticket had gone up £20 overnight - but it turned out fine. We took the train to Marylebone, then one to Paddington, and another to Bath Spa, the station at Bath. All up a 3 hour trip from High Wycombe. Coming into Bath on the train, we got fantastic views of the hillsides covered in old houses. We walked to our hostel although we couldn't find it at first as the sign was very small and there weren't many street numbers. We arrived a couple of hours before check-in so we left our bags in a locker and had a walk around. We got pasties for lunch (spinach/feta and Moroccan veg), sat down on a bench in the middle of the main street to eat (and it wasn't too cold!) and then got McFlurries. We found a little indoor market, where Janet and I bought little mother of pearl rings for £1 and saw lots of yummy cakes. Then we headed to Bath Abbey to meet for a free walking tour. Our guide Colin took us from the Abbey, Roman baths and Pump Room (cafe) down Bath Street, past the Cross Baths (formerly only for the rich), the Theatre Royal, Queen's Square, the 'Circus', a half-ellipse of Georgian houses, past the Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms and Jolly's, the oldest department store (in Britain?). After the 2 hour tour we rushed back to the hostel to get our bags out of the locker and check in. We found our way to Sally Lunn's Eating House, where the Sally Lunn Bun is a must-eat, according to Bath's tourist website. You get half a bun - they are massive - with whatever topping you want; between us we got raspberry, cinnamon and lemon curd, all really nice and the big hot chocolate was delicious too. We sat in the Jane Austen room, and then we had a look at the museum downstairs which was nothing special. Nearby we saw a sweets shop, a fudge shop and an ice-cream shop but by that time they were all shut.
I'd read on the Bath website that the theatre has 40 standby tickets for their show each night for £6 so we went and asked about that. History Boys was showing but at 8pm, and Rose was to arrive at 8:30pm so we decided to save that for Saturday night. We headed back to the hostel and up to the 'chill out room' where we didn't do much. We went to meet Rose at the station and then tried to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at Wagamama, bad I know seeing as they're in Melbourne and High Wycombe, but my gyozas were really yummy. After dinner we went down to the bar/inn which is right next to the dorms and is where reception for the accommodation is. We got cheap drinks because we were staying there but there wasn't really that much going on - bad bands - so we headed up to bed about 11:30 I think.
Saturday morning at 2am, we were woken by these bitch bogan Aussies who came in and turned the lights on and kicked Rose out of her ('their') bed. Not very impressed. We got up at 8am and went down for free breakfast, not exactly like Wombat's though - just cereal, toast and drinks. We walked to the Jane Austen centre, realised it wasn't open for another 15 minutes, and went inside Queen's Square nearby, which is a pretty little square with a tall monument, blossoms, and weirdly-shaped trees. We went back and bought tickets for JA and got a little introduction about her family life and time in Bath. Then we walked through the exhibition, and watched a short video, and ended in the gift shop. There were a few pieces of clothing in the exhibition too. We went back to the theatre to find out about standby tickets for that night and had 25 minutes till the tickets went on sale so we went down to the bead, sweets and fudge shops. The fudge was seriously amazing; wish I could say the same about the jazzles/jazzies (freckles) I bought at the sweets shop which were just gross. We went back and bought our tickets and then had not very long till our tour to Stonehenge was supposed to start. We chose, ordered and scoffed 2 pizzas between us really quickly and then rushed to the tourist info shop to find out where to meet, before rushing there. Only to find that we were booked in for the earlier tour that day, and that they were now full, and could we come tomorrow morning? So then we were sad that we couldn't savour our pizza, but we went and got joint tickets for the Baths and Fashion Museum for £13.30.
The baths were pretty amazing, lots of statues around the top of Roman governors of Britain and Emperors with connections to Britain. It had an audio guide although you couldn't listen to everything if you wanted to see it all. We ended up at the Pump Room where we got a free taste of the hot spring water. Quite weird, apparently it has like 40 minerals in it, but we drank it all. It's probably good for you. We headed off for the fashion museum, where we also had portable audio guides. There were 3 exhibitions - wedding dresses over the 20th century (perhaps earlier), 'behind the scenes' which was just their archives split up into decades with a little about each decade and the main trends, and the last one was changes to day and evening wear over the 20th century, including the dress of the year and fashion in music. We also tried on corsets and very shapely skirts.
After this we were all pretty tired so we looked for a cafe. The first one we went into didn't have bath buns so we just got drinks and then went to the patisserie nearby for sweets. We ate them in the chillout room: the bun was really nice, a bit subtle but then with a nice sweet sticky bit in the middle. We got ready for the theatre and ate dinner at the inn. Woo discounts! My qauesadilla was yummy although the meals took a little while. Our seats at the theatre were limited to the 2 very back rows; we sat in the second last for the first half then moved back to see better for the second half. It was a bit of a weird show, but very amusing. When we came out it was raining and our half-plan to go out afterwards wasn't really on our minds anymore. We went to bed pretty much straightaway when we got back.
On Sunday we got up at 7:30am so we could have a nice breakfast and pack up and get to the Stonehenge tour at 9:30am. We decided we would buy breakfast, seeing as we got such good discounts. Greer and I shared pancakes for £1.50 and an omelette with mozzarella and tomato for £2. They were both really tasty but they took a lot longer than the others'!
We found our purple tour bus and put some of our bags in the bus as we had to take everything with us (we would get back after check-out). The bus was really bouncy but the countryside was gorgeous and our driver pointed out lots of things on the way including cottages with thatched rooves and the white chalk horse on the side of a hill a couple of miles away. We arrived at 10:20am and had an hour to have a look. The stones were actually a lot smaller than any of us thought they would be and pretty much right on the road! The barriers took us all the way around the outside so my photos show lots of different angles. We had another audio guide for this too, but I'm not sure how much I actually took in. The voice would say 'move onto the next spot, but keep listening' and then it would keep talking. The giftshop was really crowded so we didn't spend long in there and we headed back to the bus. We got back at 12:30pm and headed straight to the station. Buses were replacing trains till 4pm so we found out how to get back (they print out a really helpful slip which tells you exactly where/when/what to do - bus, train, train, train, bus) and Rose and I left while Caitlin, Greer and Janet waited for the bus to go straight back as they all had to work. I worked the Sunday evening of last EXEAT, so that's another good thing about having 2 gaps in the house.
Rose and I got ice-cream, reeally good, and then went inside the Bath Abbey. There were no tours happening as it was Sunday, but it was so gorgeous. I was running out of space on my camera but I managed to get some nice shots. We went and bought more fudge seeing as it was so so so good and then had a look in some shops, which just made us a bit depressed. We went and got a late lunch at a cute place where we sat upstairs in a bright, way too hot room with an orange feature wall and shared a panini and soup. We stopped in the souvenir shop on the way to the station and then began our 4 hour trip home of bus to Swindon, train to Paddington, train to Marylebone, train to Amersham, bus to High Wycombe, walk up the hill. Fun fun. We got home just after 7pm.
We got up early for breakfast and had a minor freak out about train ticket prices - Caitlin thought a return ticket had gone up £20 overnight - but it turned out fine. We took the train to Marylebone, then one to Paddington, and another to Bath Spa, the station at Bath. All up a 3 hour trip from High Wycombe. Coming into Bath on the train, we got fantastic views of the hillsides covered in old houses. We walked to our hostel although we couldn't find it at first as the sign was very small and there weren't many street numbers. We arrived a couple of hours before check-in so we left our bags in a locker and had a walk around. We got pasties for lunch (spinach/feta and Moroccan veg), sat down on a bench in the middle of the main street to eat (and it wasn't too cold!) and then got McFlurries. We found a little indoor market, where Janet and I bought little mother of pearl rings for £1 and saw lots of yummy cakes. Then we headed to Bath Abbey to meet for a free walking tour. Our guide Colin took us from the Abbey, Roman baths and Pump Room (cafe) down Bath Street, past the Cross Baths (formerly only for the rich), the Theatre Royal, Queen's Square, the 'Circus', a half-ellipse of Georgian houses, past the Fashion Museum and Assembly Rooms and Jolly's, the oldest department store (in Britain?). After the 2 hour tour we rushed back to the hostel to get our bags out of the locker and check in. We found our way to Sally Lunn's Eating House, where the Sally Lunn Bun is a must-eat, according to Bath's tourist website. You get half a bun - they are massive - with whatever topping you want; between us we got raspberry, cinnamon and lemon curd, all really nice and the big hot chocolate was delicious too. We sat in the Jane Austen room, and then we had a look at the museum downstairs which was nothing special. Nearby we saw a sweets shop, a fudge shop and an ice-cream shop but by that time they were all shut.
I'd read on the Bath website that the theatre has 40 standby tickets for their show each night for £6 so we went and asked about that. History Boys was showing but at 8pm, and Rose was to arrive at 8:30pm so we decided to save that for Saturday night. We headed back to the hostel and up to the 'chill out room' where we didn't do much. We went to meet Rose at the station and then tried to find somewhere to eat. We ended up at Wagamama, bad I know seeing as they're in Melbourne and High Wycombe, but my gyozas were really yummy. After dinner we went down to the bar/inn which is right next to the dorms and is where reception for the accommodation is. We got cheap drinks because we were staying there but there wasn't really that much going on - bad bands - so we headed up to bed about 11:30 I think.
Saturday morning at 2am, we were woken by these bitch bogan Aussies who came in and turned the lights on and kicked Rose out of her ('their') bed. Not very impressed. We got up at 8am and went down for free breakfast, not exactly like Wombat's though - just cereal, toast and drinks. We walked to the Jane Austen centre, realised it wasn't open for another 15 minutes, and went inside Queen's Square nearby, which is a pretty little square with a tall monument, blossoms, and weirdly-shaped trees. We went back and bought tickets for JA and got a little introduction about her family life and time in Bath. Then we walked through the exhibition, and watched a short video, and ended in the gift shop. There were a few pieces of clothing in the exhibition too. We went back to the theatre to find out about standby tickets for that night and had 25 minutes till the tickets went on sale so we went down to the bead, sweets and fudge shops. The fudge was seriously amazing; wish I could say the same about the jazzles/jazzies (freckles) I bought at the sweets shop which were just gross. We went back and bought our tickets and then had not very long till our tour to Stonehenge was supposed to start. We chose, ordered and scoffed 2 pizzas between us really quickly and then rushed to the tourist info shop to find out where to meet, before rushing there. Only to find that we were booked in for the earlier tour that day, and that they were now full, and could we come tomorrow morning? So then we were sad that we couldn't savour our pizza, but we went and got joint tickets for the Baths and Fashion Museum for £13.30.
The baths were pretty amazing, lots of statues around the top of Roman governors of Britain and Emperors with connections to Britain. It had an audio guide although you couldn't listen to everything if you wanted to see it all. We ended up at the Pump Room where we got a free taste of the hot spring water. Quite weird, apparently it has like 40 minerals in it, but we drank it all. It's probably good for you. We headed off for the fashion museum, where we also had portable audio guides. There were 3 exhibitions - wedding dresses over the 20th century (perhaps earlier), 'behind the scenes' which was just their archives split up into decades with a little about each decade and the main trends, and the last one was changes to day and evening wear over the 20th century, including the dress of the year and fashion in music. We also tried on corsets and very shapely skirts.
After this we were all pretty tired so we looked for a cafe. The first one we went into didn't have bath buns so we just got drinks and then went to the patisserie nearby for sweets. We ate them in the chillout room: the bun was really nice, a bit subtle but then with a nice sweet sticky bit in the middle. We got ready for the theatre and ate dinner at the inn. Woo discounts! My qauesadilla was yummy although the meals took a little while. Our seats at the theatre were limited to the 2 very back rows; we sat in the second last for the first half then moved back to see better for the second half. It was a bit of a weird show, but very amusing. When we came out it was raining and our half-plan to go out afterwards wasn't really on our minds anymore. We went to bed pretty much straightaway when we got back.
On Sunday we got up at 7:30am so we could have a nice breakfast and pack up and get to the Stonehenge tour at 9:30am. We decided we would buy breakfast, seeing as we got such good discounts. Greer and I shared pancakes for £1.50 and an omelette with mozzarella and tomato for £2. They were both really tasty but they took a lot longer than the others'!
We found our purple tour bus and put some of our bags in the bus as we had to take everything with us (we would get back after check-out). The bus was really bouncy but the countryside was gorgeous and our driver pointed out lots of things on the way including cottages with thatched rooves and the white chalk horse on the side of a hill a couple of miles away. We arrived at 10:20am and had an hour to have a look. The stones were actually a lot smaller than any of us thought they would be and pretty much right on the road! The barriers took us all the way around the outside so my photos show lots of different angles. We had another audio guide for this too, but I'm not sure how much I actually took in. The voice would say 'move onto the next spot, but keep listening' and then it would keep talking. The giftshop was really crowded so we didn't spend long in there and we headed back to the bus. We got back at 12:30pm and headed straight to the station. Buses were replacing trains till 4pm so we found out how to get back (they print out a really helpful slip which tells you exactly where/when/what to do - bus, train, train, train, bus) and Rose and I left while Caitlin, Greer and Janet waited for the bus to go straight back as they all had to work. I worked the Sunday evening of last EXEAT, so that's another good thing about having 2 gaps in the house.
Rose and I got ice-cream, reeally good, and then went inside the Bath Abbey. There were no tours happening as it was Sunday, but it was so gorgeous. I was running out of space on my camera but I managed to get some nice shots. We went and bought more fudge seeing as it was so so so good and then had a look in some shops, which just made us a bit depressed. We went and got a late lunch at a cute place where we sat upstairs in a bright, way too hot room with an orange feature wall and shared a panini and soup. We stopped in the souvenir shop on the way to the station and then began our 4 hour trip home of bus to Swindon, train to Paddington, train to Marylebone, train to Amersham, bus to High Wycombe, walk up the hill. Fun fun. We got home just after 7pm.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The end of Berlin:
On Friday morning, the others got back about 6:30am. Those of us who could, got up at our normal time, had breakfast and headed off to the same meeting place as the other tours to do a tour of Potsdam. Unfortunately it was only us who turned up (and some English guy who was happy to do whatever) so the tour was cancelled. Our would-be guide Paul was from Perth and was also disappointed seeing as he had come in for work and now had no point in being there, but he gave us some suggestions as to what to do once we got to Potsdam (we had already bought daily train tickets). Well, he had one main suggestion and that was to go to the New Palace. We trained to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and discovered that the Potsdam train was going to be 2 hours late, so we decided to head back the way we came and go to the East Side Gallery, which is pieces of the wall with its original graffiti. While on the train, Greer spotted that the train on the next platform was going to Potsdam so we jumped off and took our chances. We're still not sure how the 2 hour delay disappeared but we're glad it did. Once arrived, we went to the tourist info centre to buy a map, and saw that the Neue Palais (new palace) was at the other end of the city, so we headed off and decided to see all that we could on the way. We walked over a bridge which led to Freundschaftsinsel (Friendship Island - nawww) and through streets full of multicoloured shops. It was our warmest day yet which was lovely and there were lots of people around. We found ourselves at the edge of a park and walked through, seeing so many pretty things - icy rivers, nice courtyards, towers, arches, ducks playing in a half-frozen fountain, a Chinese house. Finally arriving at the New Palace, there was also the uni which was just as stunning and another building. Ugly cherubs lined the edges of the top of the building, and we had a look in the little shop before heading back to the station. It felt like a really long walk back, but I guess we were just excited on the way there and we had lots of stops. At the station, I got a proper German brezel (pretzel!) which was so salty and amazingly delicious, and a Kit Kat McFlurry (come on, I have to try them in every country they're sold), which was surprisingly not that good. We got on the train fairly quickly - a DOUBLE STOREY train - and had an express trip back. Back at Wombat's, we half packed then went down to the restaurant next door for our last Berlin dinner. I spent a whole £8 pounds on dinner (penne & pineapple juice, while some of the others got big burgers) - we decided we could splurge! After dinner, I finished packing and then we headed up to the bar for the last time. That was such a cool place and luckily I took a couple of photos the night before :) Rose, Caitlin & I talked to an Italian guy and Caitlin & Janet's new roommate, this really sweet Chinese girl who bought a whole pizza thinking it would be just a slice and shared it with us. We headed to bed about 11:30pm and slept until 3:00am.
Georgie and Aisling got back to the room shortly after, having not slept, and we all left about 3:35am to head for the station, giving ourselves plenty of time. And lucky we did, because when we got there the train was going to be about 15 minutes late, meaning we would miss the bus to the airport at the other end. We ran back to Wombat's to ask if there was any other way to get to Tegel airport (they had been really helpful giving us the first instructions) and were told we could catch the train the other way, then catch a different line and then get the same bus from a different spot. We went back down to the station, where we found our original train was still late but not as late, so we waited for it and thankfully found the bus at the other end with 5 minutes to spare. I asked for 'Fünf Personen, bitte' (five people/tickets, please) and then responded with 'thank-you'. Good job, German Yve. We arrived at the airport about 5am, checked in quickly and just sat. And sat. For an hour. Then we went through the gate and waited even longer. Unfortunately none of the shops opened till 7am and I really wanted a Berlin t-shirt now that Georgie had found a nice one the day before. The flight was really wobbly and you could feel the plane speeding up and slowing down, which was slightly disconcerting, but I slept most of it, on and off. It was also quite an empty plane and I had 3 seats to myself, although I stayed in the aisle seat, generously offering the window seat to Georgie. We got some egg and capsicum pastry which wasn't bad.
At Heathrow, we had to wait half an hour for the bus, although it came a bit early so we just sat (again) in it for a bit. None of us could even be bothered moving inside to wait, probably because we were back in cold temperatures we could actually handle. I slept on and off again. When we got to High Wycombe it was raining so we got a taxi up the hill. Our driver was really nice and drove us right to Lodge door and unloaded our bags for us. Up in the flat, all the teaching gaps had new beds, sheets, doonas, pillow and pillow cases but no mattresses. Back at Highlands it was the same for me. I got straight into slippers, trackies and a t-shirt (warm enough!) and did some fun stuff like washing all my clothes that I'd worn every day for a week just to stay warm, and going through all my receipts/tickets/etc and stapling them into their separate days. My mattress arrived, weeeww! My bed now takes up more than half the width of my room, but the mattress is really high and comfy, and the doona cover and pillow cases are so colourful that they brighten up my room. Caitlin and Janet got back a couple of hours later than us as they'd bought different tickets and went to a different airport. For dinner we headed down to Wagamama, where I got fried rice and miso soup for £7, yummy yummy. Rose came back to Highlands with us and we put on Princess & the Frog, although I fell asleep shortly after it started.
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Phew! Done! Next post will possibly be a general daily/weekly rundown of what I do.
On Friday morning, the others got back about 6:30am. Those of us who could, got up at our normal time, had breakfast and headed off to the same meeting place as the other tours to do a tour of Potsdam. Unfortunately it was only us who turned up (and some English guy who was happy to do whatever) so the tour was cancelled. Our would-be guide Paul was from Perth and was also disappointed seeing as he had come in for work and now had no point in being there, but he gave us some suggestions as to what to do once we got to Potsdam (we had already bought daily train tickets). Well, he had one main suggestion and that was to go to the New Palace. We trained to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and discovered that the Potsdam train was going to be 2 hours late, so we decided to head back the way we came and go to the East Side Gallery, which is pieces of the wall with its original graffiti. While on the train, Greer spotted that the train on the next platform was going to Potsdam so we jumped off and took our chances. We're still not sure how the 2 hour delay disappeared but we're glad it did. Once arrived, we went to the tourist info centre to buy a map, and saw that the Neue Palais (new palace) was at the other end of the city, so we headed off and decided to see all that we could on the way. We walked over a bridge which led to Freundschaftsinsel (Friendship Island - nawww) and through streets full of multicoloured shops. It was our warmest day yet which was lovely and there were lots of people around. We found ourselves at the edge of a park and walked through, seeing so many pretty things - icy rivers, nice courtyards, towers, arches, ducks playing in a half-frozen fountain, a Chinese house. Finally arriving at the New Palace, there was also the uni which was just as stunning and another building. Ugly cherubs lined the edges of the top of the building, and we had a look in the little shop before heading back to the station. It felt like a really long walk back, but I guess we were just excited on the way there and we had lots of stops. At the station, I got a proper German brezel (pretzel!) which was so salty and amazingly delicious, and a Kit Kat McFlurry (come on, I have to try them in every country they're sold), which was surprisingly not that good. We got on the train fairly quickly - a DOUBLE STOREY train - and had an express trip back. Back at Wombat's, we half packed then went down to the restaurant next door for our last Berlin dinner. I spent a whole £8 pounds on dinner (penne & pineapple juice, while some of the others got big burgers) - we decided we could splurge! After dinner, I finished packing and then we headed up to the bar for the last time. That was such a cool place and luckily I took a couple of photos the night before :) Rose, Caitlin & I talked to an Italian guy and Caitlin & Janet's new roommate, this really sweet Chinese girl who bought a whole pizza thinking it would be just a slice and shared it with us. We headed to bed about 11:30pm and slept until 3:00am.
Georgie and Aisling got back to the room shortly after, having not slept, and we all left about 3:35am to head for the station, giving ourselves plenty of time. And lucky we did, because when we got there the train was going to be about 15 minutes late, meaning we would miss the bus to the airport at the other end. We ran back to Wombat's to ask if there was any other way to get to Tegel airport (they had been really helpful giving us the first instructions) and were told we could catch the train the other way, then catch a different line and then get the same bus from a different spot. We went back down to the station, where we found our original train was still late but not as late, so we waited for it and thankfully found the bus at the other end with 5 minutes to spare. I asked for 'Fünf Personen, bitte' (five people/tickets, please) and then responded with 'thank-you'. Good job, German Yve. We arrived at the airport about 5am, checked in quickly and just sat. And sat. For an hour. Then we went through the gate and waited even longer. Unfortunately none of the shops opened till 7am and I really wanted a Berlin t-shirt now that Georgie had found a nice one the day before. The flight was really wobbly and you could feel the plane speeding up and slowing down, which was slightly disconcerting, but I slept most of it, on and off. It was also quite an empty plane and I had 3 seats to myself, although I stayed in the aisle seat, generously offering the window seat to Georgie. We got some egg and capsicum pastry which wasn't bad.
At Heathrow, we had to wait half an hour for the bus, although it came a bit early so we just sat (again) in it for a bit. None of us could even be bothered moving inside to wait, probably because we were back in cold temperatures we could actually handle. I slept on and off again. When we got to High Wycombe it was raining so we got a taxi up the hill. Our driver was really nice and drove us right to Lodge door and unloaded our bags for us. Up in the flat, all the teaching gaps had new beds, sheets, doonas, pillow and pillow cases but no mattresses. Back at Highlands it was the same for me. I got straight into slippers, trackies and a t-shirt (warm enough!) and did some fun stuff like washing all my clothes that I'd worn every day for a week just to stay warm, and going through all my receipts/tickets/etc and stapling them into their separate days. My mattress arrived, weeeww! My bed now takes up more than half the width of my room, but the mattress is really high and comfy, and the doona cover and pillow cases are so colourful that they brighten up my room. Caitlin and Janet got back a couple of hours later than us as they'd bought different tickets and went to a different airport. For dinner we headed down to Wagamama, where I got fried rice and miso soup for £7, yummy yummy. Rose came back to Highlands with us and we put on Princess & the Frog, although I fell asleep shortly after it started.
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Phew! Done! Next post will possibly be a general daily/weekly rundown of what I do.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Second installment of our week in Berlin...
Last Tuesday 22nd Feb we got up just before 9am, not feeling too bad from the night before. We had a big breakfast again and met in the foyer at 10:15am to be taken to the start of the free walking tour. There were a couple of guys from Melbourne and some American women working in Paris who we chatted to on the way. We lined up in a long-ish queue, got numbers and then were put in a group with our guide George, who we could tell was going to be fantastic right from the start: he was funny, entertaining, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and passionate about the things he talked about. So the tour started in Pariser Platz, which stretches in front of the Brandenburg Gate, bank, the 'Wacko Jacko hotel' (where MJ held the baby out over the balcony) and the French Embassy. We saw the Reichstag with its big glass dome on top - you can go up there and literally look down on parliament. But apparently you have to make a reservation and/or there are always really long queues. We got to the holocaust memorial again and George told us a few of the ideas he's heard about the architecture: the concrete slabs represent tombstones in a graveyard of the victims; boxes of bodies to be carried away; soldiers all lined up; and just the general feelings of the victims - walking through the rows, one minute the rest of your party is with you, the next they're not and you don't know which way to find them. There's also a sense of helplessness when you can't see over the blocks and they rise up around you. We then saw the site of Hitler's bunker - as George described, "a dogshit-strewn carpark" which seemed an appropriate places for Hitler's resting place (although he's not actually there). Onwards to the Ministry of Finances with its Nazi architecture and wall images of how communism should have worked vs. the photos on the ground of the faces of those clearly showing it didn't. We saw part of the wall, with a pipe on top rather than the barbed wire which preceded it - nothing to grab once you're up there. Past Checkpoint Charlie (yes, we pretty much saw everything on this tour we'd already seen) and then for a well-needed break at a café (seriously freezing toes by this time, even with 3 pairs of socks).
After our break (taking photos and using the free wifi), we walked to some nice square which sat between the French and German protestant churches and a big building where the Philharmonic orchestra plays. In Summer, they play outside in the square and it is apparently arguably the nicest square in Germany, if not Europe. Pity I can't remember what it was called! Then we went to Bebelplatz where we had gone the previous day, where the Humboldt Uni was - where Einstein had taught and fled from - and also outside where the Nazi book burning had taken place, plus the opera house which will not be showing any opera till 2012/13. There is a little glass-covered hole in the square with empty bookshelves large enough to hold 20,000 books and has no doors to get into... George described it as sort of looking at your past, reflecting on it, but not being able to change it. There is also a plaque with a quote by Heinrich Heine, translated means "Whenever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings", which was surprisingly relevant to the book burning, but his quote was actually from long before. We then walked again along Unter den Linden and into a building we hadn't really considered the day before, the Memorial for Victims of War and Tyranny - an open room is occupied only by a statue of a mother holding her dead child. The artist was a woman called Käthe Kollwitz, who lost siblings, children and her husband due to war, so her work used her own experiences and feelings. Back to the Museum Island and Cathedral, which George told us has mock baroque architecture and was actually only built in 1905. For the end of the tour, we stood at the other end of the Cathedral, in the shade, so so cold, and we heard the story of how the wall eventually 'fell'. We each gave George a £5 tip but wanted to give so much more.
We walked back towards Alexanderplatz, stopping to thaw in an office foyer for a while. We discovered Maccas in Deutschland sells vegie burgers - I know right! - so Aisling and I decided we just had to get one, and its fatty goodness was very much enjoyed. We also walked past a shop dedicated to just the Ampelmann (click to see) - the east German traffic light man - which sold everything from bags to notebooks to pasta in the shape of the little guy. There are also these huge bears everywhere, the symbol of Berlin, in all kinds of colours and poses. We took a train back to the hostel where we met Janet and Caitlin, just arrived from Stuttgart. Georgie and Greer took Caitlin to the holocaust memorial to check out the info centre. We got felafel again that night, although I got a 'mini' pizza from the same place. Then we went up to the bar, met some Argentinians and a Brazilian. The drinks up there were definitely more alcoholic than usual, seeing as I only had 2 and definitely felt something. We left about 1:30am, I washed my hair and was in bed by 2am.
On Wednesday we got up our usual time of 9am for a 9:30am breakfast, to do a tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp, which George had mentioned he was taking the day before. We left for the meeting point a bit late and ended up running from the station but we got there in time to stand in the queue. We left about 11:30am and the trip to Oranienburg was about 45 minutes. We walked the same path from the station to the camp which the prisoners would have taken way back in the 30s/40s. Once there, George showed us on a 3D horizontal map where the tour would be taking us exactly. First we heard about the dehumanisation of all the prisoners, where their heads are shaved, all the belongings including clothes taken away from them, and they receive their prison clothes and a number. We also stood in front of the main tower where the watchers could see over the whole camp. They would take roll call every morning and this could take hours to get through the thousands of prisoners, and often they died standing there in the freezing cold or blazing heat. We also went into a couple of the houses where the prisoners slept, washed and went to the toilet and where there was now an exhibition. Then there was the extermination chamber which was horrible to hear about and the trench where they buried the prisoners' ashes. If their relatives wanted to pay a small fee for their loved one's ashes, the soldiers would go out and fill a box with any number of peoples' ashes - they were all just chucked in there together. We saw the sites where medical experiments took place, often making the prisoners deathly sick so they could study them. All up, it was a very horrible place but one we're all glad we saw.
We had to run back to the station so that we wouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for a train, and met a couple of girls from Melbourne on the train. Greer, Georgie, Janet and Caitlin went back to Wombat's, while Rose, Aisling and I finally got to the info centre at the Holocaust memorial. There was so much in there, and it was sort of hard to take it all in. First there was a strip with general info about Jews being deported and/or murdered and the time line to do with different countries. I was glad we had been to Sachsenhausen before this, as I could now picture the stories about the concentration camps much better. There were excerpts from letters to family members from those about to be murdered, as well as stories about specific Jewish families, some who survived and some who didn't. We then headed back to Wombat's and walked up Torstraße to a big intersection of restaurants. We ended up in a Chinese place which shared the inside with yet another felafel place. I got a yummy fried rice, but nearing the end I got horrible pains in my stomach. I don't think it could have been the food though because it came on too quickly but I still have no idea what caused it. Walking back was quite painful but then I rested and slept and felt better. The girls woke me at 11pm when they were going up to the bar but I stayed sleeping, and got up again at 2am to get into my PJs and fall asleep properly.
By the time I woke up on Thursday, I had had a 12 hour sleep - that is definitely not meant to happen on holiday in Berlin! Rose, Greer and I had a slow and relaxing breakfast at 9:30am. Janet and Caitlin were just finishing up when we got down there as they were doing the walking tour that morning and Aisling and Georgie came down just as we were finishing up. We walked to the Fernsehturm (TV tower) and didn't have to wait too long in the queue to buy tickets to go up for the panoramic view of Berlin from above. Unfortunately we did have to throw out our full water bottles which was annoying, as I'd gotten really used to always having water on me. The guy who took us up in the lift spoke German to me and I embarrassingly just smiled and nodded. We spent an hour or so up there, taking millions of photos which I still need to sort through. Unfortunately it was quite foggy, whereas the rest of the week had been very clear. It was still good though, seeing just how far Berlin stretches in all directions is crazy. They had little bits of information all around as well, although it was impossible to read it all as there are people everywhere, kids crawling around and everything. We had the same guy in the lift again going down. This time I impressed him with my 'tscüß' (goodbye). We had a look around Alexanderplatz and saw the Welt-Zeit-Uhr (world time clock) and took photos under 'Melbourne'. We looked in a German clothes shop, and I couldn't understand how they could ever wear the spring collection which filled the shop - it was too cold to imagine! We then took the train to Friedrichstraße and found our way to Bunte Schokowelt, a chocolate 'museum'. There was literally a tiny little exhibition upstairs about making and packaging chocolate and then you just go and buy Ritter chocolate. Which we did. We stocked up on 0,79€ 100g blocks and some bigger ones. There was a 'make your own' section too but it was expensive and took half an hour so we skipped it. We walked to the Tiergarten and had a bit of a wander along the paths. We came to a statue of Mozart/Beethoven/Haydn and a little frozen river behind it, which freakily had a pair of gloves on the surface. We saw a horse and rider statue too but decided it was too big to try and climb. We walked back out into Potsdamerplatz, where we saw an Aussie restaurant and the Sony Centre, whose wifi didn't work :( We took the train back to Wombat's, dropped off our chocolate and went for a walk through the streets we'd walked the other night. It was confusing to try and work out how we actually got there... There were so many shoe shops, mostly just expensive ones, but also one second-hand type store with thousands of shoes (with no prices). It looked like they should have been op shop prices but I highly doubt it. It was almost like a gallery, shoes filled shelves along complete walls all the way to the ceilings and then more in the middle of the room. It would have been heaven if we'd had time to actually look at them all and think that we actually could have afforded a few pairs. I bought a pink rock thing form a bead shop for 7€ but I'm yet to find a chain thin enough for it. We also came across a little market, one nice jewellery store, although when I took a photo the woman said something I couldn't hear/understand. We went back just before 6; we were going to take advantage of the free 4 hours before closing on Thursdays for most of the museums but we were just too tired to. My feet had survived the day okay with 3 pairs of socks but were still sore from so much constant uncomfort. We went and got dinner at 7pm with a couple of Melbourne High guys who the others had come across last night at the bar, at the same place as the night before but this time we mostly bought from the Turkish half of the restaurant. I got a cheese pide.
We walked back to the hostel and waited till 10pm to go to the bar, taking so many random photos beforehand. I also managed to drop my camera very slightly and now the flash won't stay closed which wrecked a good feeling. Still, Caitlin, Rose and I went up and met a couple of Argentinian guys (although their passports were Canadian and Italian?) and had lots of fun and laughs, and only 3 drinks although it felt like so much more. The other girls headed out about 1am to go to a club, while we stayed at the bar till (after) closing time at 2am. We were the last ones there when we left at 2:30am. Eeek. We went down the 7 flights of stairs instead of taking the lift for some reason and then chilled in the lobby for a bit before going for felafel again (not me). That was an interesting half and hour or so. Then Rose and I (Caitlin had gone already) headed up to bed about 3:30am.
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Friday and Saturday will come very soon, I promise!
Last Tuesday 22nd Feb we got up just before 9am, not feeling too bad from the night before. We had a big breakfast again and met in the foyer at 10:15am to be taken to the start of the free walking tour. There were a couple of guys from Melbourne and some American women working in Paris who we chatted to on the way. We lined up in a long-ish queue, got numbers and then were put in a group with our guide George, who we could tell was going to be fantastic right from the start: he was funny, entertaining, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and passionate about the things he talked about. So the tour started in Pariser Platz, which stretches in front of the Brandenburg Gate, bank, the 'Wacko Jacko hotel' (where MJ held the baby out over the balcony) and the French Embassy. We saw the Reichstag with its big glass dome on top - you can go up there and literally look down on parliament. But apparently you have to make a reservation and/or there are always really long queues. We got to the holocaust memorial again and George told us a few of the ideas he's heard about the architecture: the concrete slabs represent tombstones in a graveyard of the victims; boxes of bodies to be carried away; soldiers all lined up; and just the general feelings of the victims - walking through the rows, one minute the rest of your party is with you, the next they're not and you don't know which way to find them. There's also a sense of helplessness when you can't see over the blocks and they rise up around you. We then saw the site of Hitler's bunker - as George described, "a dogshit-strewn carpark" which seemed an appropriate places for Hitler's resting place (although he's not actually there). Onwards to the Ministry of Finances with its Nazi architecture and wall images of how communism should have worked vs. the photos on the ground of the faces of those clearly showing it didn't. We saw part of the wall, with a pipe on top rather than the barbed wire which preceded it - nothing to grab once you're up there. Past Checkpoint Charlie (yes, we pretty much saw everything on this tour we'd already seen) and then for a well-needed break at a café (seriously freezing toes by this time, even with 3 pairs of socks).
After our break (taking photos and using the free wifi), we walked to some nice square which sat between the French and German protestant churches and a big building where the Philharmonic orchestra plays. In Summer, they play outside in the square and it is apparently arguably the nicest square in Germany, if not Europe. Pity I can't remember what it was called! Then we went to Bebelplatz where we had gone the previous day, where the Humboldt Uni was - where Einstein had taught and fled from - and also outside where the Nazi book burning had taken place, plus the opera house which will not be showing any opera till 2012/13. There is a little glass-covered hole in the square with empty bookshelves large enough to hold 20,000 books and has no doors to get into... George described it as sort of looking at your past, reflecting on it, but not being able to change it. There is also a plaque with a quote by Heinrich Heine, translated means "Whenever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings", which was surprisingly relevant to the book burning, but his quote was actually from long before. We then walked again along Unter den Linden and into a building we hadn't really considered the day before, the Memorial for Victims of War and Tyranny - an open room is occupied only by a statue of a mother holding her dead child. The artist was a woman called Käthe Kollwitz, who lost siblings, children and her husband due to war, so her work used her own experiences and feelings. Back to the Museum Island and Cathedral, which George told us has mock baroque architecture and was actually only built in 1905. For the end of the tour, we stood at the other end of the Cathedral, in the shade, so so cold, and we heard the story of how the wall eventually 'fell'. We each gave George a £5 tip but wanted to give so much more.
We walked back towards Alexanderplatz, stopping to thaw in an office foyer for a while. We discovered Maccas in Deutschland sells vegie burgers - I know right! - so Aisling and I decided we just had to get one, and its fatty goodness was very much enjoyed. We also walked past a shop dedicated to just the Ampelmann (click to see) - the east German traffic light man - which sold everything from bags to notebooks to pasta in the shape of the little guy. There are also these huge bears everywhere, the symbol of Berlin, in all kinds of colours and poses. We took a train back to the hostel where we met Janet and Caitlin, just arrived from Stuttgart. Georgie and Greer took Caitlin to the holocaust memorial to check out the info centre. We got felafel again that night, although I got a 'mini' pizza from the same place. Then we went up to the bar, met some Argentinians and a Brazilian. The drinks up there were definitely more alcoholic than usual, seeing as I only had 2 and definitely felt something. We left about 1:30am, I washed my hair and was in bed by 2am.
On Wednesday we got up our usual time of 9am for a 9:30am breakfast, to do a tour of Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp, which George had mentioned he was taking the day before. We left for the meeting point a bit late and ended up running from the station but we got there in time to stand in the queue. We left about 11:30am and the trip to Oranienburg was about 45 minutes. We walked the same path from the station to the camp which the prisoners would have taken way back in the 30s/40s. Once there, George showed us on a 3D horizontal map where the tour would be taking us exactly. First we heard about the dehumanisation of all the prisoners, where their heads are shaved, all the belongings including clothes taken away from them, and they receive their prison clothes and a number. We also stood in front of the main tower where the watchers could see over the whole camp. They would take roll call every morning and this could take hours to get through the thousands of prisoners, and often they died standing there in the freezing cold or blazing heat. We also went into a couple of the houses where the prisoners slept, washed and went to the toilet and where there was now an exhibition. Then there was the extermination chamber which was horrible to hear about and the trench where they buried the prisoners' ashes. If their relatives wanted to pay a small fee for their loved one's ashes, the soldiers would go out and fill a box with any number of peoples' ashes - they were all just chucked in there together. We saw the sites where medical experiments took place, often making the prisoners deathly sick so they could study them. All up, it was a very horrible place but one we're all glad we saw.
We had to run back to the station so that we wouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for a train, and met a couple of girls from Melbourne on the train. Greer, Georgie, Janet and Caitlin went back to Wombat's, while Rose, Aisling and I finally got to the info centre at the Holocaust memorial. There was so much in there, and it was sort of hard to take it all in. First there was a strip with general info about Jews being deported and/or murdered and the time line to do with different countries. I was glad we had been to Sachsenhausen before this, as I could now picture the stories about the concentration camps much better. There were excerpts from letters to family members from those about to be murdered, as well as stories about specific Jewish families, some who survived and some who didn't. We then headed back to Wombat's and walked up Torstraße to a big intersection of restaurants. We ended up in a Chinese place which shared the inside with yet another felafel place. I got a yummy fried rice, but nearing the end I got horrible pains in my stomach. I don't think it could have been the food though because it came on too quickly but I still have no idea what caused it. Walking back was quite painful but then I rested and slept and felt better. The girls woke me at 11pm when they were going up to the bar but I stayed sleeping, and got up again at 2am to get into my PJs and fall asleep properly.
By the time I woke up on Thursday, I had had a 12 hour sleep - that is definitely not meant to happen on holiday in Berlin! Rose, Greer and I had a slow and relaxing breakfast at 9:30am. Janet and Caitlin were just finishing up when we got down there as they were doing the walking tour that morning and Aisling and Georgie came down just as we were finishing up. We walked to the Fernsehturm (TV tower) and didn't have to wait too long in the queue to buy tickets to go up for the panoramic view of Berlin from above. Unfortunately we did have to throw out our full water bottles which was annoying, as I'd gotten really used to always having water on me. The guy who took us up in the lift spoke German to me and I embarrassingly just smiled and nodded. We spent an hour or so up there, taking millions of photos which I still need to sort through. Unfortunately it was quite foggy, whereas the rest of the week had been very clear. It was still good though, seeing just how far Berlin stretches in all directions is crazy. They had little bits of information all around as well, although it was impossible to read it all as there are people everywhere, kids crawling around and everything. We had the same guy in the lift again going down. This time I impressed him with my 'tscüß' (goodbye). We had a look around Alexanderplatz and saw the Welt-Zeit-Uhr (world time clock) and took photos under 'Melbourne'. We looked in a German clothes shop, and I couldn't understand how they could ever wear the spring collection which filled the shop - it was too cold to imagine! We then took the train to Friedrichstraße and found our way to Bunte Schokowelt, a chocolate 'museum'. There was literally a tiny little exhibition upstairs about making and packaging chocolate and then you just go and buy Ritter chocolate. Which we did. We stocked up on 0,79€ 100g blocks and some bigger ones. There was a 'make your own' section too but it was expensive and took half an hour so we skipped it. We walked to the Tiergarten and had a bit of a wander along the paths. We came to a statue of Mozart/Beethoven/Haydn and a little frozen river behind it, which freakily had a pair of gloves on the surface. We saw a horse and rider statue too but decided it was too big to try and climb. We walked back out into Potsdamerplatz, where we saw an Aussie restaurant and the Sony Centre, whose wifi didn't work :( We took the train back to Wombat's, dropped off our chocolate and went for a walk through the streets we'd walked the other night. It was confusing to try and work out how we actually got there... There were so many shoe shops, mostly just expensive ones, but also one second-hand type store with thousands of shoes (with no prices). It looked like they should have been op shop prices but I highly doubt it. It was almost like a gallery, shoes filled shelves along complete walls all the way to the ceilings and then more in the middle of the room. It would have been heaven if we'd had time to actually look at them all and think that we actually could have afforded a few pairs. I bought a pink rock thing form a bead shop for 7€ but I'm yet to find a chain thin enough for it. We also came across a little market, one nice jewellery store, although when I took a photo the woman said something I couldn't hear/understand. We went back just before 6; we were going to take advantage of the free 4 hours before closing on Thursdays for most of the museums but we were just too tired to. My feet had survived the day okay with 3 pairs of socks but were still sore from so much constant uncomfort. We went and got dinner at 7pm with a couple of Melbourne High guys who the others had come across last night at the bar, at the same place as the night before but this time we mostly bought from the Turkish half of the restaurant. I got a cheese pide.
We walked back to the hostel and waited till 10pm to go to the bar, taking so many random photos beforehand. I also managed to drop my camera very slightly and now the flash won't stay closed which wrecked a good feeling. Still, Caitlin, Rose and I went up and met a couple of Argentinian guys (although their passports were Canadian and Italian?) and had lots of fun and laughs, and only 3 drinks although it felt like so much more. The other girls headed out about 1am to go to a club, while we stayed at the bar till (after) closing time at 2am. We were the last ones there when we left at 2:30am. Eeek. We went down the 7 flights of stairs instead of taking the lift for some reason and then chilled in the lobby for a bit before going for felafel again (not me). That was an interesting half and hour or so. Then Rose and I (Caitlin had gone already) headed up to bed about 3:30am.
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Friday and Saturday will come very soon, I promise!
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